No longer the exclusive domain of stylish Texans and Latin American politicos, the oh-so-comfortable guayabera has stepped into the ladies’ realm via a nifty re-imagining of the shirt as shirt dress. Thank you, Paris Texas Apparel Co. and its sister firm San Cristobal Guayaberas, which unveiled the dress collection during a casual fête at the store on Wednesday.
While a chic throng oohed and aahed over the summer popovers, Paris Texas proprietor Chloe Hotze explained that the store’s online customers had been asking for a guayabera dress for years. Paul Hotze, Paris Texas Apparel Co. CEO (and Chloe’s husband), founded San Cristobal in 2014 and recently decided to answer the call from the ladies but not without input from a certain glamorous trio.
Houston influencers/bloggers Lindsey Zorich and Caroline Harper Knapp were tapped to customize a guayabera dress to their liking with fashion designer David Peck providing his expertise.
“We approached David Peck because we know he does such a good job with fit and cut for women,” Chloe Hotze said. “And he helped us make this really cute guayabera shirtdress.”
Tapering the traditional boxy look of the guayabera, Peck added two darts and covered side vents at the hemline of the dresses and also worked on tapering of the men’s shirts, creating a more flattering silhouette. He also traveled with the Hotezes to the factory in Central America to confirm quality control.
The ladies selected the style, fabric, embroidery pattern and thread colors for their namesake designs. Knapp created a striped baby blue seersucker dress with 3/4 sleeves with blue embroidery and patch pockets. With two young sons, Knapp decided it was time for a “mom and me moment” for the boys. Her contribution includes matching shirts for toddlers and youths.
Zorich designed a sleeveless guyabera dress in a pink window pane print with pink and red embroidery.
“You can wear this nine months out of the year. It’s super lightweight,” Zorich said. “It works from carpool to cocktails as well. I have the wedge shoe for nighttime and earlier today Birkenstocks for carpool.”
The guayabera dresses are available in 12 variations with color and embroidery changing to meet one’s tastes. The House of Harper dress is priced at $195 while Zorich’s L.Avenue Guayabera Dress is $175. The boys guayabera shirts are priced at $65 for toddlers and $90 for youth sizes.