Cuban Fashion: The mini skirt and black lace stocking obsession

You’d think that Cuban fashion is like this...



Or this...



Well yes, that is correct, for the most part. Cuban women like wearing insufficient fabric on their bodies that leaves nothing much to the imagination. They love to swagger down the decaying streets of Havana in their tanned or very dark skins. Pull down that cleavage more, throw out that overflowing chest, rock that waist, strutt off that voluptous belly and do the salsa with that bum. And they don’t care even if they are showing off copious amounts of stretched and sagging skin either. No one cares.



I guess it’s part of the sexy, exotic, confident and somewhat promiscuous culture in the Caribbean. Maybe it’s the weather. Who knows? Your guess might be good as mine.



But what we really found odd in Cuba were the women security guards. They are like gate watchers of buildings, museums and important establishments in the city and they wear DIMINUTIVE SKIRTS and BLACK LACE STOCKINGS. When Blondine and I first saw our first security guard in this unbelievable uniform, we were gobsmacked.



‘Did you just see that?’ ‘OMG... is this for real?’



‘WTF!?’ lol









WHY ARE THEY WEARING REALLY SHORT SKIRTS WITH BLACK LACE STOCKINGS?



This is a major, major, major fashion faux pas. I have no words. And then we realised that all women security guards wear the same thing. Seriously, they all wear this. This is work attire in Cuba. Work fashion.



Then we thought that it might just be a Havana odd fashion look, but oh dear, we were so wrong. We saw the same odd fashion trend in Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba and many other places. Waitresses, more security guards and even bank employees wear the dreadful combination. While some of these black lacy stocking designs are so hilarious and perplexing, I at the back of my mind demand to know who started this trend!



Nevertheless, we weren’t able to get around to asking the locals about the mini skirt and black lace stocking obsession. We have figured out somehow the mini skirt phenomenon, after all the young school girls wear their school uniforms with really short skirts, but they have underpants underneath though.



It is a common sight throughout Cuba to see school girls in very short skirt uniforms, so that quite explains it a bit. But for the black lace stockings...? Well, this one remains a mystery. For now.



All pictures in this entry were taken in Old Havana (Havana Vieja).