Informal Dress Now The Rule In Havana (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29723, 17 January 1962, Page 2

Informal Dress Now The Rule In Havana

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

HAVANA. Havana, where two years •go men in evening dress and women in lavish gowns dominated the gay night life, is now the most informally dressed of cities. Oicesmart restaurants are now the haunt of ahirt-aleeved men and girls in blouses and skirt* or casual slack*. “Dressing for dinner” is a habit practised almost solely by foreign topkxnetic circles. Even Cubans who go to the length at wearing a suit rarely trouble to i*it on a tie.

Th* last refuge of tradition in clashing perished at the end of September with the closing of Havana’s last few casinos. Nowhere else in the city would a man who tried to enter in his shirtsleeves have been refused admMon. Sophisticated elegance is a rarity among Cuban women. Swept-up hairstyles and a lavish Show of diamonds or pearls ar* considered too reminiscent of the “bad old days” before the revolution. Fortunately they have the art of wearing quite sunpie dresses with a natural chic which shows off to the full their pretty faces and attractive figures. The informal air of former luxury hotels and fashionable bars is increased by the number of military and paramilitary uniforms in sight. Everywhere there are the khaki uniforms of the army, the green uniforms of the police, the blue uniforms of the National Militia. Added to them more recently have been the green blouses and black skirts worn by girl voluntary teachers, recruited for the nationwide anti-i llite racy campaign. and green uniforms of boys in the “Corrado Benitez Brigade” formed for the same purpose.

Green trousers end white vests mark out the members of the Association of Young Rebels, while younger boys in toe Pioneer movement are distinguished by red berets.

Many of toe young peasant girls brought to Havana to learn dressmaking or other trades in opulent houses abandoned by their former owners, also wear a uniform of light-coloured skirt and pink blouses. The men's and boys uniforms are usually sloppy. There are no smart belts to whiten or shiny buttons to palish, and toe trousers droop casually over a variety of footwear.

The tradition handed down by the Prime Minister. Dr. Fidel Castro, to his officers from the days of guerrilla warfare in the mountains, is of unpressed battledress and open-necked shirts to match an unruly beard above. A tew of toe uniformed women look no tidier. But many Cuban girl*, on being issued with standard pattern Mouse and trousers, waste no time in going to their dressmaker.