A black double belted suit adorned with real sewn-on bluebonnets from the Lone Star State took center stage at the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala in New York City earlier this month. Fort Worth’s Leon Bridges flaunted this homage to the history of the Black cowboy in Texas like a pro. In fact, Bridges is one of Cowtown’s most stylish ambassadors, who’s always pushing the boundaries on his never duplicated looks.
This year, he might’ve just outdone even himself, though you never know what Bridges may have in his closet when it comes to the next big thing.
Behind the scenes helping Bridges achieve these style goals is Los Angeles-based celebrity stylist Gabriela Tena. After meeting Bridges through a mutual friend in 2001, Tena has worked with him on several looks that have appeared at red carpet events, video shoots, and a national ad campaign for Wrangler.
Tena, who was originally born in Spain and raised in Southern Cal, comes from a family of style-driven people. Her grandmother was the founder of a luxury lingerie/sleepwear brand in Madrid, and her step-grandfather was a tailor and designer of men’s suits for clients such as Oscar De Le Renta. It was through the connection with De La Renta that her career in the fashion world would begin in a very humble way.
“I started my fashion career as an intern for Oscar in 2011 in New York under Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, who are now the creative directors at Oscar De La Renta and Monse,” Tena says. “I did everything from delivering coffees, to picking up fabrics and hardware, to helping dress models at fashion week. After that, I moved to Los Angeles and started my career as a stylist.”
After relocating to L.A., Tena worked as an assistant to a celebrity stylist for two years before starting her own company, La Gab Style. This was the springboard that opened a whole new world of possibilities for the now in-demand stylist.
In addition to doing celebrity styles, Tena is also a costume designer, a skill that came in handy for May 6 Met Gala.
Tena says she worked very closely with Bridges on the 2022 Wrangler X Leon Bridges collab, where he designed his own capsule collection with the brand.
“It was an honor for me to be a part of that campaign because I've been wearing Wrangler since I was 10 years old,” Tena says. “My first pair of denim shorts were Wranglers, so, that was incredibly special for me. And then Leon and I have collaborated with a lot of other designers for red carpets, appearances, music videos, fashion week, and performances. We've worked with Patricio Campillo, Willy Chavarria, Gucci, Khaite, Ib Kamara of Off White, Robert Wun, Chanel, and Chrome Hearts to name a few. I always want to make sure that the designer I choose is true to Leon or what story he's visually trying to tell through his music.”
Outside of her work helping celebrities hone their unique looks, Tena also styled the cast of the short film “Gothic Springs,” a stylized sci-fi drama starring Peyton List and Judy Kain.
“And, oh, man, it was amazing. They sent me the script and then I did a presentation of how I visually saw the characters. They loved my presentation so much that they gave me full creative control on that project and that was amazing,” she says. “I think the characters on that film all came to life through wardrobe and it was such a rad process to see from start to finish.”
With several successful projects already under her belt, Tena and Bridges set their sights on the Mount Everest of fashion events — the Met Gala, whose theme this year was “The Garden of Time.” This year’s attendees had to show up to the event in a floral and botanical look.
“Getting ready for the Met Gala was surreal and such a dream,” Tena says while on a video shoot. “We worked with designer Willy Chavarria, and his team really helped bring our vision to life.”
The inspiration for Bridges’ look was inspired by a photograph of Bill Pickett, which is part of the exhibit “Black Cowboys: An American Story” at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. This is where Tena says the idea for the neckline of Bridges' suit came from. To top that off, Bridges was also given two belts to display, which have symbolic significance to the Black cowboy’s motif.
“One of the belts was where the gun and gun sheets would have gone, but we replaced them with silk fabric bluebonnets. On the lapels of the jacket, I reached out to Fort Worth florist, Tisha Marie of Blomme Te Amo. She sent us real dry preserved bluebonnets and we actually sewed those onto the jacket just a few hours before Leon was to go on the carpet. His boots were from Rocketbuster, based in El Paso and the jewelry was vintage from 1907,” she says.
Going back to Tena’s family tree, she also has another relative in the fashion business in the form of her sister Marta, who runs La Gab Home, a sister company to La Gab Style. La Gab Home specializes in interior designs for homes, sets, or staging for the sale of a space. Oh, yeah, they also do home photography.
“My sister and I started our interior design company in 2020. She definitely leads that company more than I do, as my focus is primarily fashion, but it’s always so fun working on interiors with her. For me, I just love dressing, whether that be homes or people,” Tena adds.
As for any advice she would impart on aspiring stylists, designers, and would-be fashionistas, Tena says, “always be true to yourself, never follow the pack. Don't be afraid to start at the bottom.”
