Gift Guide No. 1 — Guyabera: A Perfect Shirt

The cigar industry is a fascinating world.  It is filled with all kinds of people.  The overwhelming majority of the industry is small business; family business.  And no one represents family business better than Berta, The Guayabera Lady.  Guayaberas are the traditional Cuban shirts, worn for every occasion and just everyday.  As a middle aged Jewish guy from Boston, I couldn’t imagine myself even knowing what a guabera was much less wanting one.  Yet, as I became part of the fraternity of cigar smokers and began to enjoy the culture around cigars, I became more interested.  I was struck by how easily the shirt was worn, either casually or formally.  I remember first noticing a guyabera when it was worn by Carlos Fuente, Jr. at a formal event.  His shirt was a pure white linen with French cuffs.

As a matter of practicality, our gift guide will get into some details about the shirts.

The guayabera shirt is distinguished by several details: either two or four patch pockets and two vertical rows of alforzas (fine, tiny pleats, usually 10, sewn closely together) running along the front and back of the shirt. The pockets are separately detailed with identical, properly aligned alforzas.

The top of each pocket is usually adorned with a matching shirt button, as are the bottoms of the alforza pleats. Vertical rows of adjusting buttons are often seen, one on each side, at the bottom hem. While most versions of the design have no placket covering the buttons, a few newer designs do.

The bottom of many shirts has three-inch slits on either side, and these include adjusting buttons. The bottom has a straight hem, thus it is not tucked into the trousers.

Though traditionally worn in white and pastels, guayaberas are now available in many solid (and loud) colors. Black guayaberas, embroidered with colorful flowers and festooned with French cuffs, have for many decades been extremely popular in Mexico. In Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba, guayaberas are part of the traditional wear for men.

In Zimbabwe, the short sleeve version is worn for special occasions. The shirt was brought to Africa by Cuban teachers who once lived there. Today, it has replaced the safari suit for special occasions. White shirts are worn with black dress pants to weddings, and black shirts are worn to funerals.

The guayabera is worn as office and loose formal wear all over the world. In Zimbabwe and Britain the guayabera is called a Safari shirt. In Jamaica it is known as a bush jacket; in the United States, Trinidad and Guyana, a type of guayabera (similar to a safari shirt) is sometimes called ashirt-jac; in the Dominican Republic it is known as chacabana.

The Guabera Lady, is a great place to get these wonderful shirts.  Berta has made the guayabera her life and is the third geenration in the business.  Her beautiful shop, located in Miami and pictured to the right, has not only a great selection of shirts and other trinkets but also a fully stocked humidor.  If you can’t get to Miami, you can visit her at theguayaberalady.com.

My guaybera was of the finest 100% white linen, with my initials monogrammed on the french cuff in light blue.  It cost around $125.  Other shirts can be has for as little as $35, making it a nice gift for anyone on your list.