by: Judi Jordan

"The world has angels all too few, and heaven is overflowing".(Samuel Taylor Coleridge(1772-1834)

Selena's sweet mezzo-soprano haunts us still with its love, innocence, and sincerity. Even before the tragedy, 'I Could Fall In Love' brought us to tears.

The drama of her death was a classic scenario: trust abused and envy turned to poison. Astonishingly, to this day nothing has dulled her true essence, her spirit.

Interviewing those who knew her, an extraordinary portrait of Selena emerges. She lives, laughs, dances and comes to alive for them. When they all tell their stories they are animated, as Selena's light is once again awakened in their consciousness.

Here are some of the memories.

Unlike most of us, Selena lived every moment fully. She was great fun to be around and inspiring to her friends and relatives. As the band slept aboard Bertha, the tour bus, she sewed, wrote, cooked up practical jokes,(no one was spared), designed her costumes and dreamed big. Selena's mind was never limited by concepts of what Latina women were supposed to do. There were no career boundaries for her. She remains a role model with innate good values. She cared what her family and fans thought and was sensitive to their feelings. Her sister, Suzette Quintanilla , puts it well: "The love of her fans has kept her alive. It's pretty incredible to me that almost 8 years later, her memory is so strong."

Julie Ramirez, from Byran texas, met Selena way back in 1982 and went on to make her distinctive costumes for 13 years. "I was a promoter at a club", she recalls, "and Selena's family was performing there. Julie also made costumes on the side, and little Selena saw some styles that had been made for a band from Chicago. She immediantly enlisted Julie to help dress her band Selena and the Dinos. Years later, when Selena created the famous "cowhide' designs(actually satin and velor with sequins), Julie was the one who made them., and that included appliqueing the band's jeans to coordinate with Selena's outfits.

Even then, Julie knew that the 10-year-old was on her way to the top. "Selena was just a wonderful, beautiful talented person. She had no pretensions. She treated everybody the same, whether it was a old lady, young guy or little girl." And she was unstoppable. "Selena was always saying. 'Let me do it Dad! I know I can do it!" When she was set to open her own boutique, and the people from the cable company called to say that they couldnt make it till the next day, she got in there and started drilling the holes int the walls and running the cable through. And when the landscapers couldnt make it on time, Selena was out in front with a hoe, digging up the garden and planting flowers. It rained and she got completely wet and dirty!

Selena's light remains so bright that she reaches out to a new generation, mentoring from the other side. Selena Style endures because ultimately it has very little to do with sequined dresses, and very much to do with the warm, rich fabric of her soul. She admired Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson, but she became an icon unto herself because her style was consistent with who she was. It wasnt copied, it was interpreted and reinvented. What is true style but externalized behavior manifested through fashion?

Selena encourages Julie to do her best and try new things. 'She was so young, but she taught me so much". One day she showed up with some leather skins and said, "I want you to make me a jacket". I was terrified and asked, "What if I spoil it?" Selena said "So what? If you spoil it I''ll get you some more__ you have to be confident! You always need to have faith in yourself! With the confidence to try, Julie went on to make many more leather garments for her.

Selena had the same faith in others that she had in herself. "She gave you a chance right up to the last minute". Julie once made a faboulous red chiffon dress for Selena. " The dress was short in the front and had a train of rows and rows of ruffles in the back. It took 38 yards of red chiffon. I called it the 'La Bamba' dress. Selena took it on a trip for a Tv appearnce, and when she touched it up with an iron she burned it on the left shoulder! She called to tell me because she was so upset. I told her to go ahead and wear it: the burn mark wouldnt show on Tv. She did wear it and it's true you couldnt see it. It's in the museum now with the scorch mark and all.

According to Selena's sister, Suzette, "She loved beauitiful clothes, but fashion did not rule her. In her private life, she wore basic T-shirts and jeans with loop earrings, and contrary to the movie, she didnt always wear major make-up and red lipstick. Selena wore only a little powder, eyeliner, and some lip gloss when she wasnt onstage". Selena did her own makeup, with only occasional help for the final touches. "Performing for 17 years, she had her own routine down". Tricks? Suzette chuckles. "She would contour her nose with powder if she was performing on tv. It's pretty incredible what that can do for the shape of your nose. And she like to mix really basic stuff with higher-end products. " She wore Maybelline mascara, Elizabeth Arden foundation and powder, Chanel lipsticks and eyeshadows, and she'd buy fake eyelashes at the grocery store." Hair care? "Just before she passed away, she was a spokesperson for Agree Shampoo, and used that." She wore Boucheron perfume but didnt bother with fancy face creams.

Selena was 5'5 and 120 pounds. She had a tiny waist and a curvy body that made everything look good, and her exercise was just sheer adrenaline. She didnt spend huge sums on her clothes, either. She designed and custom-made a lot of the costumes with Julie. Elisabetta Beraldo, costume designer on the Gregory Nava movie 'Selena' recalls, " When I went to Texas to do the film, I was actually able to find a lot of the original fabrics that Selena had used for her clothes. Some of the stores where she bought the fabrics still had a roll or two left. It was wonderful: the whole experience was wonderful." She also sets the record straight about another matter. For years a rumor circulated that they'd padded the rear-end of actress Jennifer Lopez to emulate the real Selena. But Elisabetta scoffs, "Thats not true".

Selena's subliminal stamp can b seen on Latina musicians and actresses today. She was a sexy visionary as well as a musical trailblazer. The sexy, feminine style that Thalia now wears so well, with high heels and long tumbling hair, certainly has a little Selena edge to it.

It was inevitable that Latinas would emulate, worship and admire Selena. Ultimately we canonized her. She's our patron saint of romance and estilo Latina. A totally feminine role model, Selena gave us license to thrill. " Her favorite colors says Suzette, "were purple and black". Who can forget that sparkly aubergine jumpsuit she wore for her huge concert at the Houston Astrodome? The white Grammy dress is now behind glass at the Hard Rock Cafe, preserved for posterity. Suzette puts it well: 'She was sexy without being slutty". Selena loved shine. She put colored rhinestones on belt buckles to match her outfits, and secretly sewed big jewels onto bras for her stage costumes. She collected Faberge eggs. In short, she was an original.

The memory of steamy Texas nights spent reaching for the dream, and the triumph of transcending two very different worlds_and all that and more lives on in her legacy, inspiring us today. Selena made it seem equally possible to risk enslavement with the perfect stranger or to resist temptation. She was strong with a soft heart, beautiful inside and out, generous, kind and forgiving. Her personal, deeply original fashion style was as much a trademark as her lovelorn lyrics, and both have influenced a generation of Latinas and Anglos onstage and off. Like Selena herself, they were spontaneousand enduring.

She started a business that became a line of clothing sold nationally. Now the store in Corpus Christi, Texas, sells much more than just Selena T-shirts and jeans. Says Suzette " We buy a nice range of styles that retail from $40-$150. There's also a salon in the boutique for hair and nails. It was always about being accessible. Selena had her nails done every two weeks, they were part of the look, as were jeans. Those white jeans helped launch a career, making Latinas feel proud of their hereditary padding.

Selena touched us in so many ways.

Hearing Selena on the radio en route to a party was the incitement to head-over-heels love with the right guy or ridiculous infactuation with the wrong ones- hot blooded passion we would live to regret or to savor. What Latina over 18 hasnt driven in a convertible with her companeras on a balmy, starry summer night, singing along to the tingly "Dreaming"? Selena's fire red Porsche Carrera is parked for eternity in the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, but her spirit soars in every corner of the globe where Latinas have aspirations for a better life.

Julie Ramirez:" Her last performance was in my club on March 13,1995. I have the poster, and I can still hardly believe that she's gone.

Suzette: "It's the fans who keep Selena alive, the very young ones who werent even an idea when Selena was here. That continues to amaze me."