Clarin

18.11.2007

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/11/18/elmundo/i-02401.htm

Cuban youths say farewell
to the styles of the Revolution

Tattoos and piercings. Hairless male bodies. No big differences anymore between young fashion in the island and elsewhere, except in the ways Cuban boys and girls work out to make up for the lack of clothes and cosmetics.

By: Fernando García

Poor but trendy. Piercings, tattoos, waist-high pants, young men with hairless bodies and plucked eyebrows... Much to the regret of the first generations of the Revolution –and they do regret it– most Cubans between the ages of 15 and 25 look very much like their kind in other places around the world, including the capitalist countries, when it comes to tastes, tendencies and outfits. The only distinction lies in the ways these Cubans devise to get around the current shortage of clothing, cosmetics and accessories… and get away with it without any patently obvious difference.

Yendri, William, Julián, Adrián and Giovanni are taking some “shots” of rum, sitting on Havana’s seawall. They’re university students from the provinces of Guantánamo, Granma and Camagüey. Three of them are studying journalism, and the other two, psychology. Each is wearing a flirtatious detail: a sleeveless shirt, imported Nike T-shirt and sneakers, a tattoo on the arm, another on the back, hair gel, cream... Four of them shave their whole bodies regularly, and now and then have all their facial hair removed –the hard way: "My jevita (girlfriend or sweetheart) does it with pincers, on cold blood", Yendri says.

"Girls like us to go hairless, the way yumas (foreigners) do", William explains. He and his friends shave their arms and legs with a razor blade, since "for laser and other treatments you need a lot of dough".

At any rate, the practice of going hairless is not exclusive to Cuban youths. "Everybody does it here, just like everywhere else!," they say in an offended tone. American movies –often pirated– common on screens large and small are a major point of reference and source of inspiration. Relatives abroad and a widespread, deeply rooted buddy system take care of the rest.

Sold almost exclusively in convertible currency, all modern-looking garments and cosmetics are very expensive here, since people get their salaries in the weak Cuban currency. Nevertheless, each of the two students wearing a tattoo had to pay 10 CUC (7 Euros) for it, as well as a price from 1 to 1.85 CUC for the hair gel. "But if you don’t have the money you can use deodorant or shampoo, or else you crush a little bit of uvita (green stalk of young garlic plant) and spread the liquid all over your head". Among the creams, which most of them wear, Nivea is queen.

Those who can afford a car often tunean (modify) the bodywork by adding oversized spoilers, huge exhaust pipes, glowing strips and music system and extremely powerful music systems.

Cuban girls also work it out as best they can. It’s an open secret that there’s a well-supplied black market of designer –and imitation–clothing. Zara or Mango (the latter has its own outlet here), but also Dolce & Gabanna, are becoming bestselling brands in Cuba.

These changes are being increasingly covered by the official media. A few days ago, the daily Juventud Rebelde published a two-page article headlined ¿Un macho menos 'macho'? (A less macho ‘macho’?), which wrote: “The number of men wearing female items and cosmetics is on the rise. Cuba is not spared by metrosexuality". The paper puts the blame on globalization, market interests and a loss of values. Other articles either charge at reggeton music’s vulgarity and sexism or alert to the danger of body-piercing. Still others, worried about ethics and aesthetics, even urge young people to remain loyal to the Revolution.

Truth is, certain changes seem to be getting ahead of, or keeping the distance from, the revolutionary vanguard.

---ooOoo---