Art in Guatemalan dress styles

I was in Guatemala for the entirety of winter break, and the moment I exited the airport there something seemed different.

The crowd surrounding the exit gates of the airport was punctuated with women in traditional dress.

These women wear their art, and they’re more than likely on their feet selling their work while balancing a bundle of it on top of their heads.

The women’s outfits consist mainly of a blouse, a belt and a skirt of sorts. They’re always colorfully dressed. Westerners are concerned with matching their clothes, not wearing certain colors after certain holidays, not wearing polka dots with stripes, etc. In Guatemala, this concept is nonexistent.

Traditional women’s clothing has stripes within stripes, colors encircling other colors and patterns in larger patterns.

Pastels are rare. My eye was more attracted to the vibrant colors.

Reds blazed hotter than the hottest coals; the blues were brighter than the clearest skies above Lake Atitlan in Guatemala; the greens were richer than the feathers of the quetzal, Guatemala’s national bird; the purples were the most royal-looking purples to be found in Central America.

The textiles these magnificent women don are usually handmade on looms and stitched together by hand. It’s quite impressive to see the dexterity of the women’s nimble hands and fingers while they stitch and weave.

Even after the rainy season in Guatemala, flowers are still in abundance. Floral patterns are commonly found on women’s blouses in addition to all the colors.
These can be intricate, hand-stitched flowers or machine-made duplications.

Sometimes the women look like walking bouquets.

Unfortunately, the men have mostly adopted Western dress and style, therefore losing touch with their native culture.

The men in rural parts of the country might not be so Western in dress, but maybe a little “Yeehaw! Giddy-up!” in appearance.

They typically wear blue jeans, boots, a ten-gallon hat, a belt buckle and a button-down shirt, which is tucked in for that gentlemanly cowboy look. Not so artsy.

A select few men do wear traditional clothing similar to that of the women – vibrant colors and appealing patterns – but their clothes lack the large amount of color in comparison to the women’s. Where they lack color, they make it up with modernization. Even traditional male garments still somewhat resemble Western styles.

The best place to find these walking works of art is in the market areas of the country.

I took a microvan to Chichicastenango, a Guatemalan city known for its humongous markets, and beheld an eye-boggling array of decked-out women.

The booths in Chichi were filled, literally, from floor to ceiling with handmade textiles and clothes. At times, I became so taken with observing my surroundings that I would trip or bump into people.

It was eye candy, and it tasted of vibrancy.