Gollo’s Annual Cholo Party at Beauty Bar! (VINTAGE VANDALIZM)

Every year my friend Greg has a really huge cholo party at Beauty Bar for his birthday where everyone dresses up as cholos and cholas. He is mexican so this is his way of celebrating and/or introducing his culture to everyone in Vegas. It was a lot of fun and I had been anticipating this party for a while so I could tap into my inner chola. Everyone dressed up for the occasion and his best friend DJ Maybelline (who is also one of my good friends) played some cool west coast hip hop sets, there was a mariachi band, and some really dope bands like The Delta Bombers played too! To top it all off, they even had a Chola piñata! It was a pretty amazing birthday party for Greg if you ask me, and he deserved it! I invited my friend Nubia who is also a new Las Vegas resident and she had a blast too. Her, Yocelin (DJ Maybelline), and I looked like the only girl gang when we left my house. Yoce wore a mens shirt, khaki shorts, high socks, and bandana printed loafers. Nubia wore my Elvis Mug shot T-shirt, jeans, Jordans, and a bandana. I wore a Rik Villa top with matching baggy pants, a white tank, black Nike sneakers, and a bandana to match the Rik Villa set. I had prepared for this party for some time now, but I was ready to take it to the next level and get more creative so I drew an entire sleeve tattoo on my arm with waterproof Avon eye liner haha! I tested it out and it was the only thing I had in the house that was smudge proof, water proof, but could still be taken off in the shower. I couldn’t even believe the masterpiece I created but man, people were complimenting me all night saying I should be a tattoo artist and if not, I should totally get a permanent tattoo done with the design I created. I just went online and looked up gangsta Disney princesses so that’s where the inspiration came from. Anyway, we totally looked the part and I wish I could be a chola every day after that night haha. I might still incorporate some of that gangsta-ness to my regular looks, who knows haha!

This Chola was the first one ready that night lol. How cool is this piñata?!

And so it begins..the full sleeve of Disney princesses like Snow White, Ariel, and Alice.

Wish I had better photos but we were in a rush haha. Took me an hour and a half to create this..

I drew an image of a rabbit I found online too who resembled the white rabbit <3

Fresh Nikes.

Weave in, a tear drop, a rosary, my Bronx-made name plate and door knockers, brown lip liner, finger tats, and a bandana. LETS GO.

A Puerto Rican Chola <3

The irony is that this style isn’t all that different from the Puerto Rican and Dominican style I saw growing up in NY. This style is not limited to Mexican culture. As someone who grew up in Queens, with a father and family from Brooklyn, and some of my family in the Bronx, this style was pretty similar to the Hispanics I saw in different hoods who were inspired by hip-hop culture. The lip liner, the jewelry, the tattoos, and the bandanas were all very similar in different ways.