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  • 15 hours ago
From adobe homes to handwoven rebozos, Josefina Montoya’s collection is a masterpiece of cultural research. This video follows the American Girl team on research trips to New Mexico and Mexico City to find authentic materials like crushed insect pigments for fabric dyes. In this video, learn the importance of capturing the natural colors of 1824.

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00:00Here we have Josefina Montoya. She's set in 1824 New Mexico.
00:04For Josefina in particular, research trips were really important.
00:08So the team spent time in New Mexico and in Mexico City doing research.
00:13In New Mexico at one point, they even went to one of the advisor's homes,
00:18and he lived in an adobe house without running water or electricity.
00:22They could really experience what it was like to be Josefina in the 1820s.
00:27The advisors were also incredibly important for informing the color palette of Josefina's world.
00:33They wanted the look of Josefina's whole world, from her textiles to her illustrations to her
00:39furniture, to reflect the natural pigments of her time.
00:43In this color palette, the artist used natural materials like dried insects that were crushed,
00:50clays, red clay, zinc, indigo, things like that.
00:55And you can really see the colors from this palette, how they informed the meat outfit,
01:00the lessen outfit.
01:02The red of the sash here on her lessen outfit is actually the red made from crushed insects.
01:09Another really important thing that the team learned from the advisors was how important
01:13Josefina's riboso would be.
01:15This was something she would wear pretty much at all times.
01:18And so on one of these research trips, the historian who was working on Josefina actually
01:22bought this riboso in order so that the team could instruct her on how to wear it,
01:28so that we could inform both product and illustrations and make sure that they were accurate.
01:32we're going to link them out in the description.
01:33We're going to link them in the description.
01:33We're going to link them in the description and see if that's all the information I'm gonna
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