HAVANA (AFP) -
French
fashion house Chanel staged its first Latin American catwalk show in
newly trendy Havana Tuesday, but ordinary Cubans were left watching the
glitz from afar.
International celebrities and Cuban bigwigs
graced the red carpet as Karl Lagerfeld showed his latest collection,
which the German designer infused with the styles and colors of the
Caribbean island.
Cubans without an invitation to the exclusive
event meanwhile packed the balconies of old Havana or lined the police
cordon outside, straining to catch a glimpse of the beauties in the
distance.
"What a sight. But I would have liked to be closer to
the models," said 52-year-old Mireya Correoso, who told AFP she had
never seen so much luxury and showbiz in one place.
It was the
latest in a stream of international cultural events on the communist
island as it opens up its diplomatic and commercial relations.
"The
world is finally opening up to Cuba. Everyone wants to come taste the
forbidden fruit. Everyone wants to discover it, savor it, enjoy it,
explore it," said Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro
and a prominent gay-rights activist on the island.
Other high-profile attendees included Hollywood stars Vin Diesel, Tilda Swinton and Geraldine Chaplin.
Diesel is in town shooting the latest "Fast and Furious" action movie.
Among
the parade of visiting celebrities and top officials, the Rolling
Stones also played a concert here last month after a visit by US
President Barack Obama.
Obama and Castro's December 2014
announcement of a rapprochement between their two countries has kindled
new interest in Cuba, long isolated by a US embargo and its status as
one of the last bastions of communism.
In announcing the show,
Chanel said that "the cultural richness and the opening up of Cuba to
the world have turned it into a source of inspiration."
The show
took place on an open-air catwalk on the Paseo del Prado, a long seaside
boulevard in a scruffy neighborhood that got a deep makeover for the
occasion.
The opulence inside the tightly guarded venue stood in
stark contrast with the poverty of the ordinary Cubans dressed in shorts
and T-shirts peering in.
The half-hour show ended with a brief
appearance by Lagerfeld, dressed in his trademark gloves and a sequin
jacket, who received a burst of applause and conga drums.
- 'Too nostalgic' -
The show was not entirely to local designer Idania del Rio's liking, however.
"It
was very interesting and maybe too nostalgic. A lot of Cuban cigars,
colors and hats from another era. It represented a Cuba that doesn't
interest me right now, because today's Cuba is another, more
contemporary Cuba," said the 33-year-old entrepreneur.
For years,
the communist principles that ruled in Cuba after revolutionary Fidel
Castro won power in 1959 insisted on equality, even in clothing.
Foreign brands were not available until the 1990s, when the market started to open up gradually.
Cuba entered a crisis after the Soviet Union, which had financially supported its communist government, fell in 1991.
Cubans had to wear imported second-hand clothes from state-run stores.
Authorities called it "recycled clothing" but ordinary Cubans referred to their trips to the official shops as "rag-shopping."
With its cabarets and casinos frequented by US film stars and gangsters, pre-revolutionary Cuba had a thriving fashion scene.
The end of the Soviet era encouraged a rebirth.
The
future of fashion will depend on if and when US lawmakers end the
54-year-old embargo -- still in place despite the diplomatic thaw.
"When
we become a normal country, without the embargo, we will be leaders of
fashion," said Cuba's best-known living designer, Raul Castillo.
by Hector Velasco
© 2016 AFP
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