Dress
The traditional clothing in St. Lucia has roots in France and Africa. This traditional outfit for women is called the madras or jip. This outfit is made up of a white blouse outline in red, an outer skirt, a triangle-shaped scarf, and a headpiece (called tete en l'air), which indicates if a woman is single, engaged, married, or welcomes anyone. For men, the outfit is simply a white shirt, black pants, and a sash. Today the traditional dress has been lost on a daily basis, but can still be worn for formal events, particularly the more formal version of the madras, the wob dwiyet, which was likely the inspiration for the madras.
Today, the people of St. Lucia wear western clothing and, as a visitor to their country, you are welcomed to wear the same. Due to the country's many beaches and hot weather, the dress can be fairly liberal in as shorts and short-sleeved shirts are common. Even in nice restaurants, many of which are on the beach, dress tends to be fairly casual. In religious, political, and business settings the dress is more formal as pants and long-sleeved shirts are common, especially at churches and in business meetings.