Paolo Pimienta knows the story behind every dress on display in an exhibit at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth.

“This dress has an amazing story,” she said, walking by a silver beaded and embroidered dress. “It was made by a designer in Mexico City and she had about 10 to 15 seamstresses that embroidered this 24 hours a day and they would switch in shifts and they finished it in a total of 15 days.”

Pimienta knows the stories because she lives the life.

“The one that’s right behind me, the black and red one, is actually mine when I was crowned as state ambassador,” she said of a dress equally as beautiful.

Pimienta is the former United States National Ambassador of Charrería and a lifelong escaramuza who grew up riding in Washington State.

“I grew up as a cowgirl. It was something that I had ingrained in me since I was little and I grew up in charrería. My dad took a horse for me from Mexico when I was about 12 years old,” she said.

Charrería, or Mexican-style rodeo, is the national sport of Mexico. Escaramuzza are the talented women who ride side saddle in choreographed routines at a gallop and wearing elaborate 15-pound handmade dresses.

The roots of the sport go back to soldaderas, women warriors of the Mexican Revolution.

That’s the story told in the National Cowgirl Museum’s exhibit — Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras.

It debuted in 2023 and continues in 2025 with China Poblana dresses, ceremonial dresses on loan by escaramuzzas who own them.

“I think, honestly, this one tops mine 100%. I love mine, but she really blew it out of the park,” Pimienta said of the dress with an eagle embroidered in silver thread.

Dresses Pimienta designed and wore in her role as national ambassador are on display, too. Her work with the Cowgirl Museum two years ago led to the position she has today as engagement specialist.

“I really believed in the mission of The Cowgirl and I felt that it was who I was as a person and that it was going to fulfill me and my purpose of everything I had done as national ambassador and what was to come for me,” she said.

Pimienta believes walking through the exhibit she helped create is like walking through the soul of an escaramuza – seeing beauty and bravery.

“I hope that people take away learning who we are. That we are a part of the cowgirl experience as much as any other group. And that we’re tough, I mean, we’re tough and we are definitely a group that doesn’t give up and you see that throughout our history,” she said.

A history that the Cowgirl Museum celebrates in its mission to showcase women who shaped the West and changed the world.