Today, chola dress has six integral parts: 1) the wide, pleated pollera skirt worn high on the waist to accentuate a woman’s rear; 2) several layers of colorful, visible petticoats below; 3) a heavy shawl that’s embroidered and has long tassels on the ends, fastened with a broach; 4) a round bowler hat; 5) flat pumps; and 6) matching, often ostentatious, jewelry. Just as Indian saris range from those worn daily to others donned for weddings, the Aymara wardrobe can be dressed down or up. The chola aesthetic refers to the classier, elaborate end of the spectrum.

It’s not clear how or why this specific — and somewhat odd — combination of items has become the Aymara uniform. The bowler hat draws the most speculation. The story goes that in the 1920s, British designers hoping to sell them to railway workers overseas miscalculated a serious fashion flop. When the hats arrived in Bolivia, their sellers told locals they were fashionable among European women at the time (not true) to unload the cargo. Aymara women bought the tale — and the hats. That this assortment of clothing has hung together despite attracting such scorn and prejudice over the centuries, and then transformed into a bona fide fashion trend, is a remarkable trajectory.

Yañez still remembers the days when she was the only woman in professional circles in La Paz wearing chola dress. It was on one such day in 2010, in fact, that her modeling career began. She attended a conference for small businesswomen in La Paz and was the only one in pollera. The event photographer caught a few shots of her, and several days later she got a call from the conference organizers: An advertising agency had seen the picture and wanted to hire her for an ad. She said yes; more offers followed.

At the time, said Yañez, there was only one modeling agency for chola women and she was turned off by its ethos. “They were doing a selection process,” she said. “They only wanted the youngest and most beautiful.” Yañez believes that chola fashion is better than that. “I think every woman is beautiful, especially in a pollera, and especially the chunky ones!” she told me. That’s why she opened her own studio, welcoming any woman with a love of the pollera and fashion.