How the other half lives

FIRST CAME US President Barack Obama and the Rolling Stones. And on Tuesday – yesterday Bangkok time – global fashion’s glitterati, including supermodel Gisele Bundchen, descended on Cuba for Chanel’s runway show extravaganza.

Chanel became the first major fashion house to send models down the catwalk in Cuba, highlighting warming relations with the West. The exclusive show was also a reminder of new inequalities on the communist-ruled island.

Karl Lagerfeld, who has been at Chanel’s creative helm since 1983, said his latest inter-seasonal cruise collection was inspired by the “cultural richness and opening up of Cuba”.

Former Cold War foes, the US and Cuba formally agreed to restore diplomatic relations last July. Cuba has since improved relations with other Western nations.

Chanel fashion chief Bruno Pavlovsky said the label was uncertain at first if it could hold the show, but Cuban authorities had been “very welcoming and helpful”.

Some Cubans have been critical. Chanel goods are not sold there and few people could even dream of affording them, given that even a small handbag costs thousands of dollars. About 70 per cent of Cuban workers are in the pay of the state, with an average salary of $25 per month.

Pavlovsky said it was too early for Chanel, which has fewer than 200 boutiques worldwide, to set up shop in Cuba.

“This is an event for very few people,” said university student Heidi Lopez, 23. “We can’t enjoy it, and even less aspire to buy any product.”

Others say the show is giving their dreams wings to fly. “Chanel is very good quality and also very expensive,” said Marilia Veliz, 44, an accountant and fashion lover who had sewn details like a satin bow onto her brown and cream work uniform.

“Just because I can’t afford it doesn’t mean I want to deny others that luxury. And who knows, maybe one day. It’s important to dream!”

Cuba is fast becoming one of the world’s most fashionable destinations, as tourists and the style-elite seek to savour faded glamour and Caribbean flair before it changes too much.

“Hola Cuba!” Bundchen posted Instagram on Monday, posting a photo of a Havana park that received around 110,000 “likes”.

By showcasing its cruise collection in Cuba, Chanel said it was harking back to the roots of the line originally designed for wealthy Americans holidaying on yachts and cruises in the Caribbean to escape the winter grey.

US cruises to Cuba were forbidden during the country’s stand-off with the United States. On Monday the first US cruise ship to sail to the island since Fidel Castro’s revolution was greeted by cheering local residents.

Lagerfeld, 82, is known for his lavish show sets and in the past has created a mock casino, supermarket and brasserie.

Secrecy shrouded the preparations for his runway in the Paseo del Prado, a leafy promenade. Built in Cuba’s golden era, when it was a wealthy port, colonial colonnades and elegant Art Deco buildings on either side of the boulevard are now in various states of disrepair, although some are being renovated.

The Rolling Stones played a concert in Havana last month following President Obama’s visit. A Hollywood film crew has meanwhile been shooting the latest “Fast and Furious” action movie in the city.

“I think that catwalk is going to be more for Chanel than for Cuba,” said local clothing designer Idania del Rio, 33. “I don’t know whether the people here in Cuba are ready for this type of product.”

Nevertheless she’s curious. ”I want to see what $40,000 clothing looks like!”

Cuba’s best-known living designer, Raul Castillo, is also excited about the Chanel event. “It’s a dream to see the work of a designer like Lagerfeld here in socialist Cuba,” he said.

Foreign brands were not available in Cuba until the 1990s, when the market started to open up gradually. “There is nothing uglier than standardisation,” Cuban author Arturo Arango wrote online. “With standardisation comes apathy and alienation. All that leads fatally to ugliness.”

Cubans had to wear imported second-hand clothes purchased at 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-revolution Cuba had a thriving fashion scene. Then the end of the Soviet era encouraged a rebirth.

“People here know how to sew. There are lots of good designers and people are looking for ways to buy the clothes they want,” said del Rio. But it’s “a very slow recovery”.

For the older designer, Raul Castillo, Cuban fashion “is going through a good moment”. “We are opening to the world,” he said. “It’s very important that Chanel is coming.”

The future of fashion will depend on if and when US lawmakers end the 54-year trade embargo on Cuba – still in place despite the diplomatic thaw.

“When we become a normal country, without the embargo, we will be leaders of fashion,” Castillo predicted.