Eight Highlights of Selena: From Texas to the World

Just in time for the GRAMMY Awards, Selena: From Texas to the World opens on Thursday, January 15 at L.A. Live’s GRAMMY Museum, where it will run until March 16. The pop-up exhibition celebrates the legacy of the late superstar with a collection of costumes and personal items, including some that are being shown outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, for the first time. In addition, fans can leave messages on the impact Selena has had on their lives and pose for photos at the new Selena mural from L.A.-based artist Mister Toledo outside the museum. 
Raised in a musical family, Selena Quintanilla had been singing since childhood. The family’s band, Selena y Los Dinos, gained prominence playing Tejano music, a regional blend of Latin American and U.S. musical styles associated with Texas. By the 1990s, Selena had become a star, unleashing hits like “Baila Esta Cumbia,” “Como la Flor” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” In the thirty years following Selena’s death, her legacy has grown, influencing musicians and inspiring fashion trends the world over. 
“The Grammy Museum has been wanting to do this for a long time because we know that Selena’s story is an incredible one,” says GRAMMY Museum curator Kelsey Goelz, who worked with Selena’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, on bringing the exhibition to Los Angeles. “The impact that she’s had on Latin music and the pride she inspires in Mexican-American audiences— but also all audiences— is important to us, being in L.A.”
When you visit Selena: From Texas to the World, keep a lookout for these items and more. 

Selena won her first Grammy award in 1994, when her album Live!, released the prior year, beat out the competition in the Best Mexican/American Album category. You can see her statuette in the exhibition alongside her dress for the ceremony, a white beaded Lillie Rubin gown that she also wore in the “No Me Queda Más” music video. Years later, in 2021, Selena earned a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy for her body of work, which is also on display in the exhibition.

Several easily recognizable pieces of Selena’s wardrobe are on display at the Grammy Museum right now. Amongst these are the all-white outfit with beaded boots and bra that she wore on stage at the Houston Astrodome in 1994. The bra was beaded by Selena herself, a DIY project that she completed shortly before playing in front of 60,000 fans that night. Also on display is the black and white jacket she wore for the cover photo of breakthrough album Entre a Mi Mundo and one of the many pairs of hoop earrings Selena wore as part of her signature look. 

While she first gained fame as a singer, Selena also had fashionable ambitions. She designed a number of the outfits that her band wore and often beaded the bra tops she wore on stage. Ultimately, she opened two Selena Etc. boutiques where she sold her own clothing line. At the GRAMMY Museum, you’ll see a few of Selena’s own design sketches. 

Red lipstick was a signature of Selena’s look and, by the end of her performances, the lipstick ended up on her microphone, where it would remain for a few shows before she scrubbed it clean. Her lipstick, however, still remains on the microphone used for the 1995 concert at the Houston Astrodome that would be one of Selena’s final performances. 

For a real 1990s throwback, look out for Selena’s cel phone. It’s roughly comparable in size to a shoe and has a long antennae jutting out of the top. Selena used the phone in 1994 and 1995, at a time when cel phones were cumbersome and not in wide use. Even if you remember late 20th century tech, this piece is a fun reminder of how far phone design has come. 
 

After buying an ostrich egg on Universal City Walk during a tour stop, Selena began collecting decorative eggs, a few of which have traveled from their usual home at the Selena Museum to the Grammy Museum for this show. Amongst them are two exquisite, jeweled eggs and a gold-trimmed one with a carousel horse inside of it. 

Amidst Selena’s own costumes and personal items are instruments played by her bandmates/family members, including a bass used by brother A.B. Quintanilla III and her sister Suzette’s snare drum. You’ll also see multiple guitars played by Chris Perez, including the Stratocaster bought the same year he and Selena married and played on Amor Prohibido. 
 

In 1994, Selena released Amor Prohibido, her fourth studio album. It was the was the first Tejano album to hit the top spot on Billboard’s Top Latin Album charts and earned a Grammy nomination. In the decades that followed, songs from Amor Prohibido, like “Fotos y Recuerdos,” “El Chico del Apartamento 512” and “Techno Cumbia” have continued to grow in popularity. In 2024, it was certified 4 x Diamond and 41 x Latin Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.