Guayabera - Similar Shirts

Similar Shirts

British and Americans have been wearing versions of the Guayabera for many generations. Known as "safari shirt" in Britain and "camp" (or "jac") shirt in America, their popularity first became quite notable in the 1930s. As in the Caribbean countries, Americans found the shirt to be acceptable office/business wear during extremely hot weather. Previously, Americans had only worn such shirts during their leisure time. In the UK (especially the colonies) and America, a plain form of safari shirt also became popular.

The real "safari shirt" is usually made of stronger material (less light weight), and has gussets in the back to provide more flexibility. This shirt has upper pockets. The safari shirt is confused herein with a safari jacket/bush jacket which is a single layer, long sleeved and long square tailed affair often made iconic by film directors and seen in photos of Ernest Hemmingway. The jacket has lower open pockets and is worn open (not buttoned); it sometimes serves as a photographer's jacket. Both shirt and jacket signature color is tan.

Clergy shirts, as a variant of the British safari, have been worn for many decades and are common.

One of the Philippines' national costumes for men, the Barong shirt has some features which are similar to the guayabera. Its major difference from the traditional guayabera is that it generally has no pockets.

In the Samoan islands the shirt style has been introduced into the masculine formal attire known as the "safari set". American Samoa's version of the shirt often includes tightly-sewn vertical pleats and two or four buttoned pockets.