Mariestela Fernandez started out as an actress in 1977, getting her dramatic education in Mexico, UK & Spain.  In 1982 decided to try a career in costume design finishing her studies by 1984 in Madrid, Spain.

She then came back to Mexico City and started designing Theatre plays and Advertising campaigns for Mexico, U.S.A., Europe & Japan.

In 1988 she began designing for feature films, which started getting her recognitions & nominations for the “Ariel” (The Mexican Academy Award), which she finally won  for the first time in 1994 for her work in “Bride to Be”, a film about the history of the Jewish community in Mexico.

In 1996 she won the Best Costume Design in a Theatre Play award, given by the Mexican Association of Drama Critics for the play “Mary, Queen of Scots”.

In 1997 she was nominated for Best Costume Design by the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts & Sciences The Goya Award for her work in “Perdita Durango”, Directed by Alex de la Iglesia .

In 1999 she designed the costumes for the film “ Before Night Falls” directed by Julian Schnabel, winner of the Grand special Jury Prize in the Venice 2000 Film Festival.

Since then she has been awarded with 6 ARIEL Awards for Best Costume Design for the following films plus 14 Nominations: “Under a Spell”, directed by Carlos Carrera, “Herod’s Law”, directed by Luis Estrada, “The Crime of Padre Amaro”, directed by Carlos Carrera  (nominated for Best foreign film for the Oscar and Golden Globe) “KM31” directed by Rigoberto Castañeda and “La Habitación” by Carrera, Cacho, Bolado, Contreras and Pineda.

In 2011 she received  the Coral Award /Havana Film Festival for best Costume design for her work in the film “El Infierno”.

Her latest work has been designing the Netflix show “Narcos” seasons 2 & 3 Colombia and 1 & 2 México.

She is a founding member of Baúl Cinematográfico costume rental house in Mexico since 1988.

Since 1999 she is a member of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts & Sciences (Academia Mexicana de Ciencias y Artes Cinematográficas).

In 2018 she was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.