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.