Cuban designer Jordi Leal has been doing important work to preserve and modernize our national clothes for more than a decade. Author: Abel Rojas Barallobre
Having tried his hand in areas such as sports and music, he realized that he had a gift. He claims that from the first time he observes a person, a new plan is created in his mind. Although Jordi Leal does not consider himself the king of Guayaber, as many know him, without him it would not be possible to write pages dedicated to the Cuban national costume.
“At first I started doing judo, karate and other sports related to self-defense. Then I studied music at the Alejandro Garcia Caturla Primary School. However, the voice played a cruel joke on me, and I realized that it would not be possible to do this professionally.
“I came into the world of design without realizing it, without suggesting it.” Considered the best Cuban model of all time, Natalia Mendez, among other founders of this specialty, had a hand in creating the JLeal Academy, run by a talented self-taught. Since its inception ten years ago at the El Castillito Leisure Center, together with its creator, it has brought prestige to the Cuban catwalks with more than seventy fashion shows and nearly twenty national dress collections.
“Although I started modeling after overcoming deeply rooted prejudice in society, learning how to use accessories such as a fan and a hat to be able to educate the young people and children who made up JLeal, a day after the failure of the project in which I worked, I took a pack of sheets and started sketching. Incredibly, I made three collections without ever designing anything. One was for cotton dresses, another for woven dresses, and a third for swimwear. When it was done and shown on television, I was very surprised at how it was received by the public.”
– Why such a special interest in the guayabera, which, despite the fact that it is a national dress, is not very common among Cubans?
– I remember I watched a program on television about saving clothes and said that this is not about this, but about what is being done in order to save people’s interest in it; which was lost. “It used to be a garment that was worn and protected in an impressive way.
“I was particularly interested in this from a stylistic point of view, and when my daughter Sonette was born, I designed my first two guayaberas, one for her mother and one for her baby. Since then I have started to create various collections and although I have worked with traditional guayabera, I have always had the opinion that if I present it in this way, I am not designing anything, because design is an innovation.
“I rarely saw someone in a guayabera on the street, usually a grandfather in a newspaper line; but never saw the young man. So I said: why not make a transformation? I began to prepare collections with a variety of sleeves, sometimes changing the classic collar to another one, like a Chinese one. I created guayberas with cutouts for women in the front and back. Many designers who admire my work today told me then that I was crazy.”
An idea born with the birth of one of his daughters has turned into a beautiful project he is currently developing with several children called Pequeños Gigantes. Among the future collections that Jordi Leal intends to relaunch is a collection dedicated to pregnant women, as “it is very beautiful to see a woman in such glamorous clothes during pregnancy.”
ORmultidisciplinary designer
He comments on his recent successes Jr that “in My Havana, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the city, I wanted to show the elements that identify the capital; such as Capitol, Morro, José Martí Memorial and I took it through the work of plastic artists such as Zayda del Rio, Flora Fong, Ever Fonseca, Maykel Herrera, José Fuster and Nelson Dominguez.
“They from Cuba, for their part, began to work with guayaberas designed for the models of the academy. But when we introduced them to the figures of Cuban television, we saw that there was more recognition. We have also begun to exhibit drawings in the most significant part of the Cuban lexicon,
we include the plastic arts, where we have collaborations of various national awards, as well as journalism and sports. I’m very proud that it was a complete success.”
The luxurious Son de Cuba collection, whose mention at the 2022 International Crafts Fair left the public waiting, with broken dreams, swept down the Holguin catwalk at one of the most important events of its kind on the island, which was attended by guests from more than ten countries.
“While the models were demonstrating clothes, Cuban personalities in these guayaberas were observed on a huge screen. Iconic pieces were shown, such as the guayabera with which Omar Portuondo began and ended the concert at the Kennedy Center in the United States. Although, according to the fashion professionals present, my collection was one of the best offerings that has given Iberoarte prestige over the past 20 years, my greatest reward is my public, my Cuban people.
– Guayabera – a problem of taste or budget?
“It’s true that guayabera is an expensive garment because of the sheer amount of detail, the complex preparation, and because it works with one of the most expensive fabrics in the textile industry, linen. However, nowadays we see young people wearing exorbitantly expensive branded shoes, expensive clothes. I think that the problem is not in the cost, but in the preferences.
Son de Cuba is one of the latest collections of guayabera from a fashion designer who is on tour around the country. Photo: provided by the interviewees.
“One of the main goals of this museum, which will be opened in Havana, is not only to exhibit national clothes, but also to sell them, and so that each client can receive an individual design.”
As for the cost of these artistic textiles, the “King of Guayaber” states that he does not yet have an exact price, but he will be affected by the increased cost of the canvas. “It takes three meters of fabric, buttons, labor and other accessories to make one guayabera. Something that will help us set reasonable prices in this process is the transformation of my academy into an MSME.
“In this way, we will achieve one of our goals, which is to supply quality parts, but also with a balance of costs. In this way, my dream can be realized so that they are not only transferred
identity of the country, but for all Cubans.
ANDThe book our school needs
They are from Cuba is a book by a renowned designer, co-authored with National Journalism Award winners Ciro Bianchi and Gladys Egues, which will be completed and ready for publication in two to three months. As part of the collection of the same name, this facsimile will focus on the main aspects related to heritage clothing. “I plan to advocate for its placement in schools when it is published, as it is very important that children know this element that defines them as Cubans.
“It will also be kind of comprehensive because it will highlight the lives and work of important figures in the plastic arts, photography and other sectors of Cuban society. Not being finished, there are several publishers who want to publish it due to its high historical value. I have an idea to make the second part of this text with an international focus.
A member of the Actuar Performing Arts catalog, the fashion icon on tour across the country says she sees herself not as a king, but as “a humble servant who made his work the basis of national dress.”
Source: Juventud Rebelde