Minerva Alvarez learned to cut fabric as a middle-schooler in her native Cuernavaca, Mexico. She began making simple dresses in class and soon elevated to creating elaborate quinceañera designs.

So many quince gowns are mass-marketed by catalogs and made in China, but Cerda’s designs are original and “made here, by Mexican hands ... He’s selling the dresses to white and black ...

Her white dress—sewn in her mother’s Mexican hometown—spills over her ... Before long, a stretch Lincoln Town Car arrives for the next Quinceanera Mass. An elaborate coming-of-age ritual ...

IM ON ALISAL STREET IN SALINAS,, AND JUST WALKING UP AND DOWN THE STREET YOU CAN SEE THE QUINCEANERA DRESSES ON THE WINDOW DISPLAY... WE TALKED TO THE PEOPLE WHO DESIGN THESE DRESSES ...