The New-Wave Cotton Club
The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed..
Article, Art Direction and Photos by Emily Anne Epstein
In soft shapes, draped layers and vivid colors, there’s a fresh style of clothing for the new-wave tangueras.
In dimly lit milongas across Buenos Aires, hand in hand with the ever-growing popularity of classic tango, a new style of this sensual dance is taking shape. Tango nuevo incorporates modern and experimental elements, mixing grass-roots tango with other ballroom styles, contemporary dance and even hip-hop movements to rejuvenate tango for a new generation.
At the center of the revolution is Tango Brujo, a school, shop and milonga where teachers and dancers are fashioning the new form. While they maintain plenty of the conventions that make tango tango, they also sell a line of clothing that would no doubt turn heads at a traditional milonga. If classic tango conjures up images of women in satin, velvet and lace, then tango nuevo dancefloors are filled with swishing harem pants and light cotton tops that tie softly around a woman’s waist.
The dress codes are different at each milonga, but places like El Motivo, Practica X an Tango Brujo are the best spots to spy the latest looks, including bared midriffs, short skirts fluttering over multicolored leggings and a pair of babuchas at almost every table. Not to be confused with bombachas de gaucho, the loose, hard-wearing trousers worn by gauchos in the countryside, nor with the plain old bombachas, which are women’s underwear, babuchas are similar to harem pants, cinching at the knee or the ankle. Just a little reminiscent of MC Hammer’s 1980′s style choice, they’re found in solid colors or swirling patterns. “I feel more comfortable in these clothes,” explains Victoria Diaz, a dancer at El Motivo, a practica in Villa Crespo. “There’s more flexibility in my movement. Traditional tango clothing is great, but it doesn’t feel right to dance in. These clothes support my body better.”
Beyond Tango Brujo, shops like San Telmo’s TangoAR have caught on to the trend, offering layer upon layer of brightly colored garments priced between AR$80 and AR$200. Or duck in to some of calle Florida’s cheap and cheerful clothes and accessories shops, where you can pick up babuchas for as little as AR$25- try Todo Moda at Florida 335. For more upmarket apparel, the beautifully draped clothes at Palermo’s Dorina Vidoni are perfect for tango.
Men have perhaps the most freedom in tango nuevo, often dressing right down in simple T-shirts and jeans, in marked contrast with the dress codes at most classic milongas. But, says Andres Necchi, a regular dancer at El Motivo, the loose dress code can cause confusion when dancers come to choose their next partners during the in-between-sets period called cortina. “It’s hard to tell who is a better dancer just from their clothing,” he says. “You really have to watch how people dance to discover their level of skill.”
But despite the innovations, one thing remains the same- women’s tango shoes still swivel and sparkle to tango’s lilting, slouching refrains. The best are of the handmade variety, found in classy shops like Comme Il Faut, a boutique that has developed a cult following, drawing dance-lovers in with its highly sensual, comfortable footwear. You can take the tight pencil skirt and the fishnet stockings out of the tango, it seems, but you can’t take the tango out of these arched, devastatingly sexy, deceptively comfortable, sultry shoes.