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Eva Santos dressed generations

By ALEXA CRENSHAW alexa.crenshaw@thefacts.com
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Dec 16, 2020
Dec 16, 2020 Updated Dec 17, 2020
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Eva Santos makes dresses for dancers in the Compania Folklorica Alegria Mexcana, a professional baile folklórico group. This red skirt and white blouse’s style originates from the Mexican state of Jalisco, Santos said.

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Eva Santos makes dresses for dancers in the Compania Folklorica Alegria Mexcana, a professional baile folklórico group. This brown skirts’ style originates from the Mexican state of Sonora Bronco, Santos said.

Contributed photo

Eva Santos makes dresses for dancers in the Compania Folklorica Alegria Mexcana, a professional baile folklórico group. This pink skirt and white blouse’s style originates from the Mexican state of Nuevo León, Santos said.

Contributed photo

Eva Santos makes dresses for dancers in the Compania Folklorica Alegria Mexcana, a professional baile folklórico group. This style of the dress originates from the Mexican state of Veracruz, Santos said.

Contributed photo

A tape measure lays on top of fabric at Eva Santos’s workstation in her home in Richwood on Friday. Santos makes elaborate skirts and blouses for dancers of the traditional baile folklórico to wear as they perform.

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The wall above Eva Santos’ work station is adorned with family photos and references to her Mexican heritage. Santos began making clothes for baile folklórico dancers as a way to reconnect with her roots.

JENNA KIESER/The Facts

Eva Santos makes traditional Mexican dance dresses in her home in Richwood. Santos has been making these dresses for 25 years, and can make one dress every three days.

A photo of Eva Santos’ grandson David Alviar with a fellow dancer is framed on the wall in her bedroom in Richwood on Friday. Santos started creating the baile folklórico costumes when David started performing.

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Eva Santos holds a blouse she made for dancers of the traditional dance baile folklórico in her home in Richwood on Friday. Santos has been making clothing for dancer for 25 years.

JENNA KIESER/The Facts

A blouse Eva Santos made for baile folklórico dancers lays on her bed in her home in Richwood on Friday. Never a dancer herself, Santos has been making the bright, layered dresses for 25 years.

JENNA KIESER/The Facts

Eva Santos is seen at her workstation, where she makes elaborate dresses for dancers of the traditional Mexican dance baile folklórico in Richwood on Friday.

JENNA KIESER/The Facts

Eva Santos sits at her work station in her bedroom where she makes dresses for dancers of baile folklórico in Richwood on Friday. Santos felt disconnected from her Mexican culture until she began making the elaborate dresses for the traditional dancers, whose styles differ by state and region. Blouses she has made are shown below.

JENNA KIESER/The Facts

RICHWOOD

Baile folklórico dresses shine in their varying levels of bold, bright and layered fabrics, displaying years of their culture with pride, as does the craftsmanship of longtime clothier Eva Santos.