TERF Talks, short for 'The Edit: Runway & Fashion', is a unique fashion editorial based in Los Angeles. Our mission is to celebrate the vibrant world of fashion through insightful coverage of runway shows, captivating street style, and in-depth designer spotlights.
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Running in Traje: Mayan Dress on the Streets of Los Angeles
The story of a Guatemalan runner taking on a marathon in traditional Mayan clothing sticks with people because it turns a race course into a kind of runway. The clothes being worn are not costume or novelty. They are traje, the everyday and ceremonial dress of many Indigenous Maya women in Guatemala. For a fashion editorial, it raises good questions about what clothing means, who it belongs to, and how it moves through a city like Los Angeles.
What Traje Is
Traje usually centres on two pieces. The huipil is a woven blouse, often made on a backstrap loom. The corte is a long wrap skirt, held in place with a woven sash called a faja. Designs vary from town to town. Colours, motifs and weaving techniques can show which community a woman comes from, so a single huipil can carry family history, regional identity and years of skilled handwork. Many are made to last for decades, and the fabric is heavier and more structured than anything sold as performance wear.
Why It Matters on a Race Course
Running long distances in a wrap skirt and sandals goes against everything sportswear marketing tells us about technical fabrics and engineered shoes. That contrast is the point. Choosing traje for a public, highly visible event reads as a statement of pride and continuity. It shows that Indigenous dress is living clothing worn in modern settings, not a museum piece. Los Angeles has one of the largest Guatemalan communities in the United States, which gives the image extra resonance here.
Textiles, Credit and the Fashion Industry
Maya weaving has often been borrowed by global brands, sometimes without credit or fair pay to the weavers. When you see huipil-inspired prints in stores, it is worth asking where the design came from and whether the makers benefit. Buying directly from weaving cooperatives or Indigenous-led labels, and learning the names of specific regional styles, are simple ways to appreciate the work without flattening it.
For more on how clothing crosses from community and street into wider culture, browse our Style Edit or follow the bigger shifts on our Trends page.