Some months ago, I mentioned these guys on Booker Rising's Facebook page, but now I'm featuring them on the blog.
These gentlemen are part of a recognizable subgroup in the Congo countries of Central Africa, and are known as the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (SAPE). SAPE has two Congolese branches: those from Republic Of Congo-Brazzaville and others from Kinshasa, capital of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo located across the Congo River from Brazzaville.
The SAPE movement was apparently started in the 1960s by Congolese musician Papa Wemba, whose attire was supposedly a way to denounce the dictatorial laws of then president Mobutu Sese Seko. But in an interview for the Los Angeles Times, Papa Wemba once said his clothing was "just about looking good".
Brazzaville saw the first example of African Western dress in 1922 on Congolese politician Grenard Andre Matsoua, known as the Grand Sapeur, who returned home to Brazzaville from Paris in French attire, sometimes sporting a tail coat. Mr. Matsoua fought for human rights and freedom from colonial powers and became admired not only for his political work, but for the way he carried himself. Sapeurs consider themselves as taking an arena (fashion), and beating former colonizers at their own game by putting their colorful spin on it.
As such, there is no pants-hanging-down-your-butt-with-your-underwear-showing ethic with these fellas. Putting an African twist to old-school French and Italian fashions seems to be their forte, although they've also incorporated Japanese and British (plus a few American) designers into their closets. A book, Gentlemen Of Bakongo: The Importance Of Being Elegant, has been done on these fellas. With emigration from the two Congo countries to France, the sapeur style has increasingly hit French streets.
From what I've read, some sapeurs buy their clothes new, while others buy them used (often through friends who live in the West). Some of these guys engage in illicit activity like drug dealing, while others are poor or working-class guys who work and spend most of their disposable income on these fashions. Others rent a designer outfit (usually from a friend) for the night. And there are the ridiculous stories, like this sapeur (who has 30 outfits so he won't have to wear an outfit twice in one month...what happens to months with 31 days, I don't know) who spends US$400 a month on clothes while he lives with his parents, has his ex-girlfriend exclusively supporting their son, but refuses to liquidate his closet so the family can move to a decent-sized home.
Luckily, there are now Congolese emerging to ensure that black folks also profit from these men's purchases. Jocelyn Armel (pictured above), who is Congolese, has opened a men's' clothing boutique in Paris and claims to be the first Congolese man to create his own fashion label, "Connivences". Mr. Armel says he is fighting to improve the movement's reputation, whose main aim, he says, is to celebrate good fashion sense and an ideal of "gentlemanly" behavior. "We as Africans need to believe in Africa again, we need to believe that something good can come out of the continent and its people," he said.
Mr. Armel is also in the initial stages of setting up shop in his hometown of Brazzaville, capital of the smaller of the two Congolese nations -- but says that market is hard to crack. He points to a blue suit lined with an African fabric. "Africans will not buy it, because they do not like the fact it is lined with traditional fabric," he said. "We have to change that attitude," he adds. He has become one of the contemporary beacons of the Sapeur movement, seeing his fashion label as a way of keeping the movement alive. "Now it is time for us to start creating the fashions, not just to buy them," he asserted. "It is time for Africans to be proud of our continent."
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The Sapeurs Of Congo
