Sapeurs

The dirty streets cannot mitigate the sheer amount of
swankiness these men emit

The young men of Brazzaville, capital city of the Republic of the Congo contrast dramatically with the mud lined streets of their backdrop.  These young men who live on $300 a month,  strut about in $1000 designer suits with an aristocratic boldness and elegance that defies the poverty in which they live.  These are the members of la SAPE Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (The Society for the Advancement of Elegant People).  The members themselves are referred to as sapeurs. These modern dandies strive to embody elegance with their dress and mannerisms.  The sapeurs gather in bars and cafes on weekends to flaunt their artfully arranged bright suits, and their pricey designer labels.   

So how did a subculture of dandyism appear in in this war torn, impoverished nation? 

Papa Wemba - Rumba musician,
inspiration for sapeurs, and all around
classy dresser

At the turn of the twentieth century, Brazzaville was capital of what the French called French Equatorial Africa.  Colonizers would often pay their local houseboys with second hand clothing. The Congolese elite was composed mainly of skilled laborers who moved from the coast to Brazzaville to find work.  These men inspired the houseboys to reject the colonial ideas of inferiority taught to them.  As an assertion of their equality, the poor boys of Brazzaville rejected the second hand clothing of their employers and dedicated themselves to obtaining the finest Parisian fashions, aristocratic mannerisms, and attitudes, and making it distinctly their own.  Anticolonialism became especially important to the sapeurs in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  In the 1950’s Brazzaville as became a more cosmopolitan city, the increasing numbers of bars and cafes fostered a Congolese Rumba scene that popularized la SAPE.  Musicians such as Papa Wemba elevated la SAPE to the level of religion for many young Congolese men.  In the 1980’s the government of the Republic of the Congo worked to bar sapeurs from public spaces and outlaw their practice, seeing them as a threat to the government plans to return to more traditional modes of dress and behavior.  For much of the last 25 years, war and economic instability has made it impossible for sapeurs to exist in the Republic of the Congo. In recent years, relative peace and the government reversing its stance on sapeurs has allowed for la SAPE to reemerge as a subculture.

It takes true skill to make pink sunglasses look this
refined.

Sapeurs represent a complex and fascinating phenomenon.  On the one hand, these men are spending many months worth of wages they desperately need to improve their living circumstances in order to purchase the tokens of luxury of their former colonial rulers.  However, the sapeurs see it differently.  In the words of Papa Wemba “white people invented the clothes, but we made an art of it.”  To the sapeurs, to dress elegantly is a form of artistry, self-expression, and refusal to allow the conditions in which they live define them as people.  Understanding the delicate relationship between the sapeurs, colonialism, and self-determination is central to a proper understanding of the sapeurs.  While one may question the relationship between sapeurs and Congolese culture, one cannot question their artistry or sense of style.

Sapeurs will pay thousands of dollars for European designer suits, alligator shoes, canes, monocles, and matching hats.  Typically Congolese men living in Paris will ravage end of the summer sales at Parisian boutiques, and bring the suits back to Brazzaville and its sister city Kinshasa to sell to young working class men.  These men strive to dress according to the most up to date fashion trends.  Sapeurs wear daringly bright colored suits, but will not wear more than three colors in one outfit.  Through borrowing clothing from friends, they avoid ever wearing the same ensemble twice. Rivalries exist between neighbooring cities, and indavidual sapeurs.  They will often gather for 'fights' in which two sapeurs show off their fine attire, and designer labels in a sort of dance.  The best dressed man is declared the winner.

As Solange Knowles proves, ladies can rock a suit just
as well as their male sapeur counterparts.

If you identify with the sapeurs’ belief that elegance and dignity are a matter of choice, that one’s circumstances cannot define a person, or simply like their snazzy style there are a few ways to emulate their classy ways.  While sapeurs are generally men, people of any gender can rock a bright suit if they have the confidence to carry it well.  You certainly do not need to spend thousands of dollars on a designer suit, and then wear it to a bar in order to emulate sapeur style.  Of course if you wish to and can afford to do so, go for it.  For the rest of us, emulating the sapeur begins with carrying oneself with a sense of self earned dignity and refinement.  Once you have mastered the courtesy and manners demanded of la SAPE, the next avenue to consider is dress.  Again, the most obvious option is getting bright suits to wear to casual events.  A more realistic option is wearing dress pants, and a blazer when you go out or go to class, every now and then.  This will seem strange at first, but if you carry yourself with confidence and are somewhat consistent, people will simply come to see you as a classy dresser.  If you are more intrigued by the bright artistry of the sapeurs, then focus on that when you dress yourself.  Instead of wearing the standard black, white, and grey of business wear; add some creative brightness.  Try adding lavender, yellows, pinks, or whatever attention grabbing colors you like to your dress clothes.  Experiment, and see how you can express your personality and sense of class in your everyday and dress wear. 

Lazy People

My physics major exposes me to a group of truly brilliant and talented individuals, most of whom, much like me, spend most of their sleep deprived time battling the monster that is homework and lab work.  This might be why people in the sciences are assumed to be unattractive; we have little time to leave our homework battle to primp.  In reality, we do not need to invest too much time or effort to present ourselves in an interesting or unique way.  So for all of you who are too busy, or too lazy to invest too much time and effort into dressing well, here are a few ways to trick people into thinking you did.

Caitlin is  disappointed that she cannot
be completely lazy and dress well.
Fear not! Minimal effort will make this basic
ensemble awesome.

Admittedly you cannot just be completely lazy and dress well.  However, if you take a day or two to strategically get clothing together, you will be able to effortlessly look awesome everyday.   The first step is to make sure you like and fit comfortably into all of the clothing you own.  If you don’t, then said clothing is just taking up space in your closet.  Donate it to someone who will appreciate it more, or take it to a clothing swap and exchange it for something you would actually wear.  Now that you have space in your closet, make sure you have a lot of basics.  Be sure to have plenty of tank tops, t-shirts, button downs, pants, shorts and skirts in a few different colors.  You do not need anything fancy just something that fits and is comfortable.  You can even have patterned versions of these items, but it is very important to have a bunch of simple items in a few different colors, or patterns, or with slight style variations.  These will form the backbone of your wardrobe, and make it so you don’t need to think about what to wear on an ordinary day.  You will want to make sure your basics come in colors that suit you, or that you at least like.  Make sure you have some black and white items.  You will want mostly neutral or nondescript colored basics, and at least one item in a bright color that you really like.  The neutral colors will allow you to add on layers and accessories without looking agonizingly bright to those around you.  The bright color will allow you to throw on a pop of color that makes you happy when you are in the mood for it.  I would not suggest getting trendy items.  These will be out of style in a few months, and require more thought to wear well.  You certainly don’t want to need to go looking for clothing again in a few months, or have to think about how to wear the thing you can only wear for a few months anyway.  Creatively pairing basic elements together is a much more timeless and easy to execute way to look fashionable.

Add a jacket and a scarf and Caitlin is ready
to conquer the World, or at least this lamp post.

Next you will want to make sure you have items for accessorizing or layering.  Throwing on extra layers or a scarf takes little time or effort, but makes it look like your outfit required effort and thought.  For your accessories and clothing for layering, you can have a bit more fun with color.   However with layering you should have at least one neutral component to anchor your outfit.  Open button down shirts, blazers, cardigans, cropped tops, and any kind of jacket will fit easily on top of just about any of your neutral tank tops or t-shirts.  The accessories will typically be the bright point in your outfit that makes you look completely put together and interesting.  Just steal a bunch of headbands or flowers, bangles, statement necklaces, pendants, belts (one bright and one dark on is ideal) scarves, sun glasses and hats from your twelve year old cousin who just discovered Claire’s and thinks wearing all of these things at once denotes looking cool’s when they aren’t looking.  If you don’t have such a twelve year old in your life, or take issue with theft, I would suggest buying some items, but borrowing most from your friends.  This will give you a much wider field of accessories to choose from, save you money, and not damage your relationship with your hypothetical twelve year old friend or relative.  Often more unique or obscure accessories make you look like you are even more Avant guard and stylish.

Caitlin in cool kid form.  Note please do not
wear sunglasses at night,  no amount of
coolness justifies impairing your vision.

So now you have torn through your closet, gathered some neutral t-shirts, and stolen from your twelve-year-old cousin.  This has been way more effort than you expected.  When do you get to be lazy?  Well…now.  You have everything you need, now all you need to know is how to throw these items together in the five minutes you have on the way out the door that still looks epic.  One easy combination is black on black with a pop of color, black and white, or black and white with a pop color.  Grab a dark top or some dark bottoms, throw a black or white basic over whatever part of your body isn’t currently covered, and add a bright scarf/ necklace/ blazer/ set of bangles/ headpiece on your way out the door.  Only add one or two bright items.  If you are adding more than one, make sure all of the bright things you add are the same color.  Bam! You have a clean looking and stylish outfit.  If you are feeling really daring, wear a vest or suspenders over the white shirt.  This looks rather different, which can come off as Avant guard and stylish if carried with confidence.  Say you are avoiding doing your laundry and only have a t shirt, and some sort of leg covering.  Great!  Add a bright scarf and a dark jacket, and you can avoid washing your clothing for another day.  You can throw a leather jacket and pair of sunglasses on with anything and suddenly look like a cool kid.  On any given day, you can take a neutral basic top, add a neutral bottom of a different color, (unless your top is black white, grey or navy, in which case wearing all one color is fine), and then add some bright accessories or multiple visible layers that match or compliment each other.  Or wear a bright basic and then make sure everything you add on top of it is a complimentary or matching color. 

When pairing colors know that:

• Everything goes with darker jeans 
• Black white and gray also pair nicely together, or with bright pop colors. 
• Beige and brown look good with earthy tones like greens or browns, or warm colors like deep reds, oranges, and yellows. 
•  Navy pairs well with red, light blue, purple, yellow, white, metallics and pastels.

These are the colors I would consider neutral because most other colors look good with them, and because they can all look good with each other, these will typically be the base or anchor for your clothing.  Bright colors are the aspects that call attention to you and make you look chic.  You can pair bright base elements with neutral base elements or use bright colors as accessories.  Mix bright or deep colors with caution as you may blind innocent onlookers if you overdo it.

• Bright blue can work with yellow, pink, silver or gold. 
• Bright purple can work with greens, reds, silvers and pinks. 
• Bright red should really be worn with a neutral color mentioned above, but can still work with purple, gold, bronze, and occasionally pink or orange.
• Orange can play nice with blues, light purples, pinks and turquois. 
• Yellow will get along with blues, oranges, greys, black, and white. 
• Green pairs well with gold, and blue.

 Pairing bright colors is a great idea to do with accessories, and should be done very carefully when the bright colors are the major elements of the outfit.  You can also wear many different shades of the same color.  This typically makes you look skilled at matching. 

This may sound like a lot to do and think about, but you will find it is actually fairly simple.  Keep your wardrobe full of simple things in neutral colors, have some sense of what pairs well with these colors, and throw on a layer or two or an accessory or two whose color works with what base you have on.  This advice applies to people of all genders, however if you are going for a more masculine look, you will have to depend more on layering, as there are fewer masculine accessories to choose from.  Of course you can still look masculine and rock sunglasses, scarves, and belts.  When you find some outfit that looks good on you, remember it, then you won’t have to think as much in the future, you can just fall back on looks that have already worked.  I hope this helps you trick everyone into thinking you put time and effort into how you dress in the morning, while still saving you time.

*no twelve-year-olds were harmed in the making of this blog post

Color of the Year

With all trends there is a certain degree of arbitrariness involved in their inception.  This is especially true with colors that come into style.  

Pantone is a printing company, that produces ink, textiles, and just about anything else that has color. 

Radiant Orchid- the self proclaimed purple to end all
purples

One of Pantone’s most prominent activities is producing standardized color palettes and suggested color combinations.  The Pantone color system has become something of an international standard for denoting color.  Every year Pantone releases its “Color of the Year.”  Pantone has large secret meetings in Europe to determine what color most matches the international zeitgeist.  Yes they take themselves that seriously.  Whatever color Pantone chooses as the color of the year will influence interior design, fashion, makeup, and just about any industry that utilizes color as one of its central elements.  This year’s color of the year is Radiant Orchid.   Pantone describes radiant orchid as a color that “blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health.”  Personally I think it looks like a greyish redish shade of purple, but that doesn’t sell nearly as well as the description provided by Pantone.  Whatever your thoughts on Radiant Orchid, or the arbitrary way it came into style, it will still appear in fashion often throughout the year.  You might as well learn how to incorporate it into your wardrobe, so you can wear it, if you find you like this color.

Radiant Orchid tie and grey
vest compensate for the fact that this
man is missing the top half of
his head

Another man who doesn't even need the
top half of his face to know how to
pair "radiant orchid" with navy jeans
and a grey shirt

Bear in mind, while Pantone decided that the exact shade of purple called Radiant Orchid is the color of the year, no one is going to chase you down with a paint chip to make sure you are wearing the correct shade of purple.  Basically if a color is somewhere in the range between bright purple and greyish lavender, it counts as Radiant Orchid.  Some colors that will pair well with ‘Radiant Orchid’ are black, white, sky blue, navy, leaf green, bright yellowy green, grey, and purpley red.  For those of you presenting as men, radiant orchid ties and pocket squares look good with a black, white, or navy suit.  You can also wear radiant orchid more overtly by wearing it as a shirt under a blazer.  As with the tie a radiant orchid shirt will pair well with navy, grey, black, or white blazers.  Wear a radiant orchid t-shirt with some slim cut grey or dark navy jeans for a very casual but fashionable look. Wear it as a sweater while its still cold outside.  If you are feeling particularly preppy, you can wear radiant orchid shorts or jeans with a shirt in one of the brighter colors I listed that pair well with radiant orchid.  You can put different shades of purple into the same outfit, such as with a tie and shirt, which as long as you do so in a thoughtful manner will look good without resembling Barney.  Do not shy away from radiant orchid because it is a soft and rather feminine color.   On a strong confident gentleman such as yourself, it will simply come off as classy.

These ladies almost forgot that the colors they
are wearing still count as radiant orchid

Radiant Orchid can make a lovely companion to any black, white, navy, or green ensemble.  An easy way to incorporate Radiant Orchid is to use it as a pop color in your shoes, your handbag, a scarf a belt or some jewelry.  If you presenting as lady types wish to give radiant orchid a more central role in your ensembles consider wearing it as a blouse, dress, shirt, skirt, or any article of clothing you can conceive of really.  If it is a major element in your outfit you will want to wear a brighter relative of radiant orchid or add a bright color such as pink or red into the outfit to balance the lightness of Radiant Orchid.  Radiant Orchid will also creep its way into the makeup industry.  Purple eyeliner has long been a standard make up option, thus Radiant Orchid eye shadow with black or navy eyeliner is a mindlessly easy way to incorporate Radiant Orchid into your make up.  The other option for incorporating Radiant Orchid into your makeup is by wearing Radiant Orchid lipstick.  This can go terribly wrong and make you look like a cartoon character with hypothermia so wear it with caution.  You will want to keep the rest of your make up low key with pinkish tones.  You can look like a design student if you wear a few blocked colors with the Radiant Orchid lipstick. 

No wearing radiant orchid lipstick won't make you
look like this woman, nor will your face get stuck in
the expresson she has.  But she provides a fine example of
how to dress when wearing radiant orchid lipstick

This is what you will look like
if you wear rasiant orchid lipstick
badly

You can also get a very fun look by pairing the Radiant Orchid lipstick with other purple elements in an outfit.  Make sure radiant orchid looks good against your skin tone before incorporating it into your wardrobe.  More importantly make sure you actually like Radiant Orchid before incorporating it into your wardrobe.

Give Radiant Orchid a try let me know if any of my advice worked for you, or any ideas you might have about how to make this year’s color of the year your own.