• Men's Fashion

How to Build the Perfect Guayabera Outfit for Summer

Ask five people who invented the guayabera, and you will get five very confident answers. The Cubans will tell you it was born on the banks of the Yayabo River, and they will say it like a closed case. The Mexicans in Yucatán will wave that off and point you straight to Mérida. The Colombians have their own version ready to go, the Filipinos will remind you about the barong, and somewhere in the back of the room, there is a Spaniard insisting the whole thing sailed over from Andalusia a few centuries ago. Nobody blinks. Nobody concedes. Holiday dinners have gone cold over smaller arguments than this one.

But here is the part everybody agrees on, even if they refuse to say it out loud. Whoever actually did it handed Latin America one of the greatest shirts ever cut. This is the thing you can wear nine months out of twelve.

So that is what this post is about. First, I want to walk through the classic ways of wearing one, the formulas our tíos and abuelos already figured out and never needed to explain. Then I want to push past that a little and propose some combinations you probably have not tried yet, the kind that would make your grandfather squint at you before he admits it works.

Classy Outfit

Why This Outfit Works: This is a timeless color combination for men adapted to a guayabera. Soft sky blue balances the warmth of tan trousers, delivering a classic cool-and-warm color contrast. Long sleeves elevate the formality.

Where I’d Wear It:

• Creative studio environments
• Resort lunch
• Island Vacations

Fisherman Sandals Outfit

Why This Outfit Works: Fisherman sandals and guayaberas have two distinct historical and even present contrasts. I wasn’t fully convinced about this one until I saw Magno Scavo wearing it and realized that these are two summer items that look great together.

Where I’d Wear It:

• Summer vacation trips
• Resort dinners
• Outdoor Summer brunches

Classic Guayabera Outfit

Why This Outfit Works: This outfit is exactly what may come to your mind when you think of guayaberas and rich Latino men wearing them while they smoke expensive cigars. It has been a classic for decades, and it will continue to be in the near future.

Where I’d Wear It:

• Oceanfront dining
• Summer garden parties
• Resort afternoon events

White Pants Outfit

Why This Outfit Works: White pants and guayaberas are a classic combination; some men even decide to go for an all-white outfit, but I decided to use a sky blue guayabera for one of the nicest contrasts in summer men’s fashion.

Where I’d Wear It:

• Seaside formal events
• High-end vacation resorts
• Classy summer trips

Tonal Guayabera Style

Why This Outfit Works: This is one of the new ways of wearing a guayabera that I’m proposing. It perfectly mixes shades of brown with elements that just say summer, like a braided belt or fisherman sandals.

Where I’d Wear It:

• Coastal weekend trips
• Beach resort brunches
• Cabo

Final Words

I am Honduran, so I did not learn about guayaberas from a magazine. I grew up around them. They are at the weddings and the funerals and the Sunday almuerzos and the office on a Friday. My father owns a few. My grandfather owned more. In Honduras, a guayabera is not a fashion statement; it is just what a man puts on when he wants to look like he has his life together without trying too hard. And they come in every version you can imagine, short sleeve, long sleeve, linen, cotton, guayabera dress shirts, embroidered ones, plain ones, the crisp white ones that practically glow at an outdoor party.

What pushed me to write this was watching the same outfit over and over again. White guayabera, dark trousers, brown leather shoes, done. And look, that combination is undefeated for a reason. I am not here to tell anyone it is wrong, because it is not. But when a whole country lands on one formula and stops there, you start to wonder what else the shirt could be doing. A piece this versatile deserves more than one job.

So consider this a nudge more than a rulebook. Some of what follows is the classic stuff done properly, and some of it is me twisting things on purpose to see what happens. Take what you like, ignore what you do not, and hopefully by the end, you have a couple of new ideas to work into your summer rotation.

Roger Saenz

Fashion & Commerce Writer
Roger writes about business-casual menswear and smart everyday style. He’s published more than 100 menswear articles and reaches nearly one million monthly viewers through search-driven platforms like Pinterest. He spends far too much time thinking about sneakers, particularly which ones deserve a place in an office wardrobe.