Chicana Fashion Designer Alejandra Jimenez Boldly Breaks Expectations

When Chicana fashion designer Alejandra Jimenez decided to start her own fashion brand, she intended to do more than just make clothes. Her label, Morena Mia, has also been the creative fusion of political advocacy, bold style, and cultural identity.

“I think the kinds of stories I tend to tell across various mediums, but especially through my fashion, [are] those of my political identity—and my cultural identity,” Jimenez says on Storytellers. “I think it has a lot to do with who I came from, what my roots are, who my ancestors are, and who raised me.”

Jimenez grew up in Southern California, between Riverside and Santa Ana.

Alejandra Jimenez

Her parents migrated to the United States from Zacatecas and Jalisco as teenagers and gave birth to Aleja before either of them was 18 years old. They were young and they were modern, but they were also very proud of where they came from. They certainly did not leave their cultural identity back in México.

So, Jimenez was both exposed to contemporary Chicana style and steeped in the traditions of her parents’ vaquero roots. This cultural dichotomy early on instilled in her a unique vision when she encountered the arts.

“[My parents] tried to hold on to aspects of their upbringing, the nostalgic parts of it, through their fashion, and that very much shaped that way that I saw fashion—and the passion that I had for it,” Jimenez says.

She didn’t always think working in fashion was possible. When she started mapping out career options, there were no fashion designers in her immediate community to help guide her. And besides, her family consistently encouraged her to secure a stable job. Fashion, or any vocation in the arts, was not to be taken seriously.

Like many children of immigrants, Jimenez felt the pressures to be monetarily successful, to honor the sacrifices her parents made so the next generation can have even more opportunities.

Alejandra Jimenez

But Jimenez—from coming out as queer to pivoting to the arts—became skilled at boldly breaking expectations.

“I realized I had been living my life, as many first-gen daughters do, people-pleasing and doing what is expected of us,” Jimenez says, “because we have to be good, Mexican daughters.”

One day in her mid-twenties, she had enough.

“I took a step back and for the first time in my life I looked back and said: What have I enjoyed doing? What do I actually love doing? What comes to me with ease?” she says. “It started off as this little seed deep inside me that kept telling me: Pursue fashion. Do something with fashion. Everybody has always told you you’re really good at fashion.”

Washed in bravery and committed to authenticity, Jimenez launched her own fashion and lifestyle brand. She named it Morena Mia.

From its inception, the brand has had something to say. It was (and still is) sustainable, inclusive, slow fashion that represents the varied aesthetics and backgrounds of Jimenez’s people. Her clothing, her photoshoots: they tell stories that take you on a journey through time and traditions.

“I think storytelling is the ability to call on memory, not just on our lives, but the memories of our ancestors, and to be able to pull all these narratives that come in patterns, that come in feeling, that come in various mediums, and to be able to project them into real life or manifest them into reality,” Jimenez goes on to say.

Get to know Alejandra Jimenez with her own words and check out her segment in the Storytellers universe.