A museum in the Cuban town of Sancti Spiritus is hoping to make the cotton ‘guayabera’ shirt just as internationally famous as cigars, rum and palm trees.
Perfect for Cuba’s tropical climate, the light cotton shirt known as the guayabera is comfortable, cool, and a national symbol.
A three century-old tradition
Sixty-two-year-old Fidel Diaz Gutierrez sews guayaberas by hand, one by one on an old Singer machine.
“The pleats are the ones that take the most work because you have to make them one by one, and you mould them with your fingernail,” he says.
His workshop is in the old town of Sancti Spiritus, 345 kilometres from the capital, Havana.
Experts say that the guayabera was born here before beginning its three-century ascent from the clothing of field labourers to an elegant, formal garment.
Uniquely Cuban
Along the way, it has always been uniquely Cuban, even in its design.
“The original guayabera has on the shoulder piece the triangle of the flag, the button, which is the star, the five pleats represent the five stripes of the (Cuban) flag,” explains guayabera expert Pedro Luis Fleitas.
“Anyone who wears this shirt is changed. Something strange happens. It is like a fantasy, like the story of Cinderella, the person is transformed,” he adds.
The iconic shirt even has a museum in the town where visitors can view 272 guayaberas and dresses, some of them donated by the famous people who wore them.
