Haitian Fashion
The Haitians are generally well dressed. Typical garb for kids are dresses for the little girls, which can range from a regular cotton sundress to something that may be considered play “dress up clothes”. The little boys wear shorts and tee-shirts. Older girls and women are usually dressed up more, wearing tights skirts, tank-tops, and nice blouses (everything is tight). I’m shocked by how tight their skirts are, because walking up the steep paths would be impossible in my opinion if I couldn’t get a good wide stride going. Perhaps more shocking is the number of women who wear high heels with their skirts AND walk up the mountain. The heels are stilettos, but still, I would break an ankle. Flower print anything is popular, and asymmetrical cuts are popular too, i.e skirts with a diagonal hem.
Older men generally wear collared shirts and polos, tee-shirts only if they are very poor. Almost always men wear pants despite the heat, only the poorer men wear shorts. The young men are very posh, their style being most similar to American fashion. They always look nice, wearing boot-cut dark wash jeans and polished square toed dress shoes (think Kanye West). Black, red, and blue are the choice colors for their polos (collars are always popped, I love it) and nice tee-shirts that usually say “New York”.

A lot of the tee shirts you see are discarded American clothes from sports teams that didn’t win the Super Bowl, or high school track and field team shirts. I also saw a FBI (Federal Booty Inspector) shirt, and a high school age kid wearing an “I Love Soccer Moms” shirt, lol. Wearing shower caps or plastic aprons as an everyday item also seems popular, even if it isn’t raining.
Hairstyles on men and women are short. Women have braids and cornrows, or just a simple bun at the base of their neck. Young girls will wear longer hair tied in barrettes or decorated with ribbons, but no one over the age of 12 has that look. Old women cover their heads in bandannas or colorful scarves.

Overall, Haitians are dressed to the nines more so than I expected, and I’m usually underdressed. They think it is strange that American who live/visit here wear camping type clothes (i.e shorts, tee-shirts, and loose fitting pants).