ITS 3time in Cuba!
January 16, 2004
What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of Cuba? Cigars? Fidel? Che? Buena Vista Social Club? Mojitos? Fashion? Fashion, does not quite fit in. At the most people might be familiar with the Guayabera (traditional Cuban cotton or linen shirt with pleats, cool and comfortable) but that is as far as Cuba’s association with fashion goes. Or is it? Well, in the ITS archives there are two institutions that study fashion design. So when I book my Christmas break to Cuba it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go meet the students and the teachers.
We emailed our two contacts in Cuba — Pedro Contreras from Centro Desarrollo Artes Visuals and Carmen Gomez from Instituto Superior de Diseno Industrial.
Its impossible to leave Cuba feeling indifferent towards Cuba and Cubans. Visiting and presenting ITS#THREE in the Instituto Superior de Diseno Industrial gave me a tiny insight into the sad tale of an aspiring Cuban fashion designer. After the hype, Pedro was definitely the most enthusiastic, even Carmen had her doubts. The dilapidated pink building looks uninviting, seems like a health and safety risk ? they apologise for the state of the school. A class is doing overtime in the room that has been booked so we wait outside while Pedro searches for Carmen. Students start to arrive and stare at us curiously. A friendly group comes over to tell us Carmen is on her way. No problem the class is just running 10 minutes late.
The first thing I notice about the classroom is there are no windows (none of the classrooms have windows, glass is precious), the old air conditioning system is blasting freezing draft and there are about 20 smiling faces staring. Pedro introduces me and I say a few lines but there is no holding him back and he is off telling the class about ITS with wide eyes. Everyone has heard of Barbara Franchin, known here as a fairy godmother for young fashion designers.
The class watch the whole 45 minutes of the ITS#TWO video documentary without growing impatient or chatting, just glued to the TV. No sooner do I press stop the questions start rolling. A series of animated discussions follow. Most of the class see the event as unreachable for their possibilities. Here everything is complicated even the simple action of posting their entries with priority mail is impossible as costs are in dollars. Just think that the average Cuban earns the equivalent of 15—20 dollars a month! They are reassured that there is no theme and any fabrics can be used ? in Cuba it is impossible to obtain unusual fabrics. Which is why the class is so keen on the Ingeo ™ Sustainability project, a chance to get their hands on new fabrics for free! Here there are so few opportunities for Cuban fashion designers. It is no wonder there is a general feeling of sadness when the job prospectives after graduating are the likes of designing military uniforms or working in a factory.
Liliam Dooley a graduate from the Instituto Superior de Diseno Industrial now has her work displayed at the progressive art gallery "En la vida real" translated "In real life" says " We don’t pretend that we can compete with the fashion world ? but we try to do something interesting with the materials and the possibilities we have".
With all the odds against it, fashion does more than just survive — Cubans don’t just love fashion they live it. I had a stroke of luck to be invited to the opening fashion of Cuba’s biggest craft fair, FIART. The theme "Art meets Fashion", 26 fashion designers interpret 26 modern paintings with 26 outfits. At a glance this could have been a catwalk show anywhere ? camera men, press, the front row reserved for VIPs? However when it starts there is no denying that it is in Cuba ? the models perform and the crowd responds animatedly with cheers and shouts. All tongue in cheek nothing pretentious, this isn’t just fashion but entertainment.
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