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Dare to Ask: Why do some Latinos decorate with stuffed animals?

By Phillip J. Milano

Question

There are more Latinos moving into our community. … In several homes I have visited there have been several large stuffed animals on display. Why are these used as prominent decorative pieces? — Candice, 25, white, Fremont, Neb.

Replies

I’ve never seen, heard or read about anything like what you describe. I’ve always associated adults with stuffed toys as something young white women sometimes have a thing for, as a way of playfully showing they haven’t yet needed to grow up because their families are so well-off. Sounds to me like what you’re assuming is something a few Latinos do is actually more a sign of upper middle class assimilation or imitating well-off white women. — A.C.C., 34, Mexican and American Indian male, Indiana

I don’t agree one can assume the questioner thinks all Hispanics have stuffed animals in an attempt to mimic rich white women. This generally lower-middle-class white lesbian has about 30 stuffed animals in her living room. — Alma, 46, white, Texas

I have never heard or seen of any Latinos having stuffed animals hung on their walls. If they do, it might be for decoration. Everyone likes stuffed animals, and I’m sure that they have their little collection, too. — R.L., 17, Hispanic female, Baltimore

I guess we just like to decorate our houses with inexpensive items. Sometimes you’ll see clown and circus animal statuettes; sometimes you’ll see little plastic dolls from 25-cent vending machines; sometimes you’ll see empty tequila bottles lined up on the mantle, etc. It has a folksy, kitschy charm, and it’s a lot easier on the wallet than stuff from Spiegel or Nordstrom. — Dan, 21, Latino, Los Angeles

Experts say

Just so no one can say we stuffed the ballot box, we’re having a good ol’ Caucasian designer weigh in on this one, as well as a Latina. Two folks with more taste than most of us, for the price of one.

Emmy award-winning interior decorator Christopher Lowell, who’s hosted Discovery Channel’s “It’s Christopher Lowell,” is one of the originators of the “turnaround,” in which he goes into homes of folks of modest means and offers to spruce up their decor on a budget.

When low-income Hispanics decorate with stuffed animals, it’s often about trying to “hang on” to something, he said.

“When I ask them about it, it’s about displacement. Because of vacillating immigration laws, and with some being illegal, especially among females, these little characters are the equivalent of imaginary friends,” he said. “These are like little communities they build, because of the transient nature of their early childhood.”

Many outgrow the stuffed characters, or they may save a few in a curio cabinet.

“They become like diary benchmarks – these stuffed toys may have been taken with them at one time, maybe even on the run,” said Lowell, who hosts “Ask Christopher” at christopherlowell.com.

All in all, he said, much of it has to do with cultural inheritance – in the same way some Hispanics use bright colors to celebrate their homelands, or some Italian-Americans put slip-covers on their furniture out of a poverty-consciousness.

Marlene Pratt, a second-generation Cuban-Dominican interior designer who’s co-hosted Univision’s “Mi Casa es Su Casa” and co-founded casalatina.com, said she’s seen the stuffed animals among Hispanics and other cultures.

“If you walk into a first-generation Italian home and they are attached to something like that, they aren’t going to let go of it. If you walk into an Irish home and see it, they won’t want to let go,” she said.

“It’s about attachment to something … and they haven’t been taught otherwise. I might tell them that 10 stuffed pooches on the bed won’t work for any elegance, so maybe pick four.”

She has to be a determined designer to educate people to see things in a different way from what’s been passed on to them.

“They are concerned with getting their kids assimilated, not their house. Not everyone can afford a designer.”

She said some stereotypes – such as slip-covers on Italian-American sofas – are just that.

“Ha, my mother had plastic on her furniture, too. I pushed her to take it off. I had to sign a paper that stated that if the sofa got stained or fell apart, I would have to buy a new sofa. … I said ‘Mom, I’m a designer, you cannot have plastic on your furniture.’ This was 20 years ago. Now she can’t even think of putting plastic on her furniture.”

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