Selena: A Visual Dictionary

The things that made Selena Selena.

It’s difficult to fathom how a 23-year-old could wield so much influence on popular culture. And yet Selena Quintanilla, who was killed 30 years ago this week, did just that. Her fans love her just as fiercely and as loudly today as they did in the 1990s, and it’s not difficult to understand why. She was beautiful, charming and immensely talented — her singing sounded just as good live, if not better than on her studio recordings — but she was also deeply relatable.

She was Mexican American and proud of her Tejano heritage, but she did not learn Spanish until she was older and made no secret that it was imperfect. Still, Selena managed to make it look effortless.

The singer died on the cusp of even bigger success, working on her fifth studio album, intended to be her English-language crossover. While it’s hard not to think what she would have accomplished had she lived, Selena left behind a very stylish legacy. From her signature red lips and chunky hoops to her instantly recognizable purple jumpsuit, Selena is undoubtedly a superstar, for her time and for ours. Here’s a look at the visual signifiers that made Selena into the cultural figure she is today.

I could never relate to the girls in my elementary school class who yearned to have their ears pierced. I’d had mine pierced since I was 7 months old, and by age 2, I already owned my first pair of gold hoops — they were mini, but now I marvel that my tiny toddler lobes once supported them. My household was only half Latino, but in the 1990s, the image of Selena loomed large, and it would have been impossible as I grew older not to have at least an oblique awareness of how crucial hoop earrings were to her signature look.