Meet the Indigenous women behind Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's 'most stylish' looks

SAN ISIDRO BUEN SUCESO, Mexico (AP) — In the Mexican mountain town of San Isidro Buen Suceso, Virginia Verónica Arce Arce begins her days as she has for decades: seated at her vintage Singer sewing machine, guiding bright threads into intricate patterns passed down through generations.

Arce is part of a group of talented female Indigenous artisans who collaborate to create the colorful embroidered dresses and huipiles — traditional blouses worn by Indigenous women — that have become a closet staple for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and earned her a spot on the New York Times “Most Stylish” list.

Since launching her campaign for president, Sheinbaum has worn garments that honor the textile traditions of different Mexican Indigenous communities.

“In each embroidery there is not only a lot of work, there is tradition, there is history, there is legacy ... each embroidery represents something that a woman designed and thought of,” Sheinbaum said Wednesday.

The president's style caught the attention of the New York Times, which this month included her in its list of the most stylish people of 2025, saying she has drawn attention to the country’s Indigenous fashion by wearing "embroidered clothing.”

Arce learned the art of Nahuatl embroidery at a young age from her father. Her motifs of flora and fauna from La Malinche mountain in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala became her signature and soon caught Sheinbaum’s attention.

The president wore one of Arce's embroidery designs sewn on an elaborate purple gown to lead her first Mexican Independence Day celebration on Sept. 15.

When the president stepped onto the balcony of the National Palace to wave the Mexican flag, millions of Mexicans saw Arce’s work.

“It was very emotional,” Arce said, describing how her family gathered in front of the TV to spot the familiar stitches. “When she came out and was wearing the dress, it was a very emotional to see her with it, with the embroidery from Tlaxcala and, above all, from my community.”

It wasn’t the first time Sheinbaum had worn something made by Arce. One of Arce's traditional huipiles was worn by Sheinbaum during her presidential campaign and later readapted into a formal suit by Olivia Trujillo Cortez, one of the president´s seamstresses.

Sheinbaum's team often recycles her clothes. When Sheinbaum has worn a blouse or a dress a few times, she asks to readapt the piece into a suit or a jacket, giving them new life without spending too much, Trujillo said.

Using embroidery and textile patterns from Indigenous artisans from Oaxaca, Chiapas and other places, Trujillo began producing suits, dresses and formal ensembles for debates, campaign rallies and, eventually, the presidential palace.

“People from all social backgrounds now want a dress like the president’s. It’s become a trend," Trujillo said of Sheinbaum's embroidered pieces.

Sheinbaum, like former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has showcased and defended Mexican popular art from plagiarism. In August, her administration accused sportswear company Adidas of ¨cultural appropriation¨ and of copying the design of the traditional footwear known as huaraches made by the Zapotec Indigenous people in Oaxaca.

In 2021, the federal government asked brands including Zara, Anthropologie and Patowl to provide a public explanation for why they copied embroidered blouses from Oaxaca’s Indigenous communities to sell in their stores.

These pre-Hispanic shoes and clothing, whose patterns and fabrics vary according to region, were for centuries seen with contempt within Mexico. There were even periods during the colonial era when huipiles were burned in public bonfires as part of an effort to eradicate all that came from Indigenous people.

For years, if someone wore a huipil “it looked bad,” the president said, adding that disdain for the clothing, which is an expression of racism, remains in some places in the country until this day.

Claudia Vásquez Aquino, an artisan from the state of Oaxaca and one of the many women behind the president’s signature style, is grateful Sheinbaum is showing the world the value of Indigenous clothing.

Sheinbaum was sworn in on Oct. 1, 2024, in an elegant ivory dress with a round neckline, long sleeves and colorful floral embroidery on part of the skirt. The dress was designed and embroidered by Vásquez in the style of the southern state of Oaxaca and sewn by Trujillo.

“You have no idea how significant this is for each artisan,” said Vásquez, who still remembers how as a child she would change her traditional clothes when going to the city to avoid being mocked.

“We went to that extreme of taking off our huipil, putting on a casual blouse or pants...we didn’t want to arrive in the capital looking like an Indigenous woman,” she said. “Today everything has changed.”

Olivia Trujillo is reflected in a mirror creates an outfit for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at her workshop at home in Mexico City, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

FILE - President Claudia Sheinbaum rings the bell as she gives the annual independence shout from the balcony of the National Palace to kick off Independence Day celebrations at the Zocalo, Mexico City's main square, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

Virginia Veronica Arce Arce, a designer of Nahua folk art embroidery worn by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, works in her workshop at home in the municipality of San Isidro Buen Suceso, Tlaxcala, Mexico, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Virginia Veronica Arce Arce, a designer of Nahua folk art embroidery worn by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, works in her workshop at home in the municipality of San Isidro Buen Suceso, Tlaxcala, Mexico, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

FILE - President Claudia Sheinbaum waves to supporters in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on the day of her inauguration, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

BURLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Eddie Wicks and his wife went to bed in their house next to the Snoqualmie River on a Washington state farm known for its sunflower mazes and Christmas trees, they weren’t too worried about the flooding heading their way.

After 30 years living in the city of Duvall northeast of Seattle, their family had plenty of experience with floods and always made it through largely unscathed. But as they moved their two donkeys to higher ground and their eight goats to their outdoor kitchen, the water began to rise much quicker than anything they'd experienced before.

“It was hours, not days," he said. “In four hours it had to come up 4 feet.”

As the water engulfed their home Thursday afternoon, deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office marine rescue dive unit were able to rescue them and their dog, taking them on a boat the half mile (800 meters) across their field, which had been transformed into a lake.

They were among the thousands forced to evacuate as an unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain in parts of western and central Washington over several days this week and swelled rivers, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles.

The record floodwaters were expected to continue to slowly recede Saturday, but authorities warn that waters will remain high for days, and that there is still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There is also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday.

Still, no deaths have been reported.

Authorities have yet to estimate the costs, but photos and videos show widespread damage, with entire communities or neighborhoods flooded around western and central Washington. Officials have conducted dozens of water rescues, debris and mudslides have closed highways, and raging torrents have washed out roads and bridges.

President Donald Trump has signed the state’s request for an emergency declaration, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said.

Officials issued “go now” orders Wednesday to tens of thousands of residents in the Skagit River flood plain north of Seattle, including the farming city of Burlington, home to nearly 10,000 people. By Friday morning, muddy water overflowed a slough and rushed into homes, prompting more urgent warnings for Burlington.

The rain arriving Sunday will cause rivers to rise again, said Robert Ezelle, director of the Washington Military Department’s emergency management division.

National Guard members knocked on hundreds of doors in Burlington early Friday to tell residents about the evacuation notice and help transport them to a shelter. By late morning the evacuation order was lifted for part of the city and waters were slowly receding.

The Skagit River drains a wide swath of the rugged Cascade Range before winding west across broad, low-lying farmlands and tulip fields on its way to Puget Sound. Cities like Burlington sit on that delta, leaving them especially vulnerable to floods.

The river crested overnight Thursday into Friday at 37 feet (11.2 meters) in the valley’s biggest city, Mount Vernon, surpassing the previous record by a few inches. A flood wall held fast and protected the downtown area.

About 1,000 Burlington residents had to evacuate in the middle of the night, Ferguson said. The water was reportedly 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 centimeters) deep in certain areas as it flooded homes, police department spokesperson Michael Lumpkin said.

Mario Rincón had been staying at a hotel with his family, including a week-old infant. They returned to their Burlington property Friday but couldn’t get inside, as murky floodwaters reached part-way up the first floor.

“It’s going to be a few days before the water recedes,” he said.

Near the U.S.-Canada border, Sumas, Nooksack and Everson — which together have about 6,500 residents — were inundated. The border crossing at Sumas was closed.

In a social media message, Sumas Mayor Bruce Bosch acknowledged community members were anxious to return to their homes.

“Hang in there," he wrote.

In King County, crews worked through the night to fill a sinkhole on a levee along the Green River in the Seattle suburb of Tukwila, County Executive Girmay Zahilay said Friday.

Authorities across the state in recent days have rescued people from cars and homes.

Helicopters rescued two families on Thursday from the roofs of homes in Sumas that had been flooded, according Frank Cain Jr., battalion chief for Whatcom County Fire District 14.

Near Deming, two homes collapsed into the Nooksack River as erosion undercut them. No one was inside at the time.

Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it’s responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.

Rush reported from Portland, Oregon, and Golden from Seattle. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.

Eric Gustin rescues a chicken from a flooded coop, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

A n aerial view of a home and a barn surrounded by floodwaters in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Portions of a neighborhood are flooded on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Eric Gustin paddles to dry land after rescuing one of several chickens from a flooded coop, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Emergency crews, including National Guard soldiers, wort in a neighborhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)