Mexican Newspaper Reports on American Women Crossing the Border

This story appeared in the two-page daily English-language supplement to El Universal, Mexico City’s most authoritative newspaper at the time. The story told of Mexican officials refusing entry to a group of women from the United States who made repeated attempts to get into the country. The story itself was unusual in that the newspaper did not often deal with conflicts at the border, nor did the English-language section regularly cover local news. The article, however, does fit neatly into a series of stories and images that seemed to fill the paper in the summer of 1924. There was a sudden rise of attention to women’s fashion, particularly those fashions that came from abroad and seemed to make women look masculine. The major issue of the time was the length of women’s hair, but other aspects of women’s appearance also caused controversy. People around the world took an interest in this new vogue, but in Mexico it seemed especially important because of the recent Revolution.