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WORDS SOPHY ROBERTS

PHOTOGRAPHY ROBBIE LAWRENCE 4.26° S 4.26° 15.24° E 15.24° travels to the Republic of Congo meet STYLE + STYLE + ELEGANCE the men who see style and elegance as an ideology. Sophy Roberts

LASOCIÉTÉ DES AMBIANCEURS ET SSOCIETY OF AMBIANCE–CREATORSAPE BRAZZAVILLE DES PERSONNES ÉLÉGANTES AND ELEGANT PEOPLE REP. OF CONGO 84 AVAUNT

In Brazzaville’s poorest neighbourhoods, the sapeur culture is still alive and thriving – inspiring a younger generation with a peopleʼs unique philosophy and style.

first met Coco Firenze — a member of Congo’s colourful subculture, the sapeurs — in a French restaurant on the Congo River in Brazzaville. This is the capital of the Republic of Congo, a country stretching from this great central African water- shed all the way to the Atlantic on the west coast of the continent. On the opposite riverbank, where the fishermen’s wooden canoes looked like dragonflies floating on the sur- face, stood , capital of the ‘other Congo,’ which is the troubled Democratic , or DRC. Often the two countries are confused, despite their dra- matically different identities and colonial histories. 86 AVAUNT

Sapeurism is not a tourist pheneomenon, but then tourism is not yet a significant aspect of the Congolese economy. Will that change in the future? Perhaps. It has happened everywhere else. AVAUNT 89

‘YOU CAN’T SAY WE COPY WHITE PEOPLE. WE TAKE THE CLOTHES AND WEAR THEM BETTER.’

JACQUES PALAS, JULY 2018

It was an arranged meeting, which Sapeurs are therefore a fragile cul- Year by year, sapeurism evolved into had taken some time to sort. The sa- tural phenomenon, and hard to find. a kind of ideology. You’d find the peurs — members of the Congolese As I was told the story, their very ringleaders holding court at places La Sape, an acronym for Société des specific sartorial identity evolved like the city’s Poto-Poto Bar. In Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élé- out of the wartime years when the late 1970s, the movement was gantes, or Society of Ambiance-Cre- Congolese soldiers were drafted to popularised by the Congolese mu- ators and Elegant People — are fight on European soil, and along- sician, Papa Wemba, who was con- aware of how they are seen by out- side French soldiers, in World sidered the unofficial leader of what siders, and the way their ‘look’ has War Two. The soldiers picked up became known as La Sape, with the been featured by photographers, clothes from , their former look migrating into Kinshasa, fashion companies, and most well- coloniser, mixing up a Parisian and Brussels. known of all, the 2014 Guinness swagger and style with wardrobes I was in Congo for ten days. advert. During my time in Brazza, then abandoned or bequeathed by I’d tried looking for them in the as the capital is also known, I’d met the departing colonisers, who left Marché Total in the heaving Ba- a brilliant Congolese photogra- Congo in 1960 when the country congo neighbourhood, but in a city pher, Baudouin Mouanda, who had gained its independence. Many of of 1.3 million, I soon discovered worked with the sapeurs on numer- the firstsapeurs were servants to you’re not going to just ‘bump into’ ous occasions, and commanded these Europeans – distinguishing a sapeur in a flamingo pink suit and their respect. ‘To see their image in themselves from other Congolese crocodile-leather shoes. My in- a magazine reasserts their profile; with a strict code of conduct and set troduction was instead arranged they want it, it makes them proud,’ of rules. By dressing like their mas- by a local photographer, Victoire he told me. ‘They are not doing it for ters, they were challenging their Douniama. After some negotia- money. It’s a passion; but increasing- superiority – it was an essentially tion, we agreed that I would buy ly, they also know that they can make rebellious gesture that continues Coco and his friends a riverside a business out of the way they dress.’ to inform the spirit of the tradition. lunch; in return, they would talk 90 AVAUNT AVAUNT 91

More and more women are joining La Sape dressed in men’s suits. 92 AVAUNT ‘TO BE A GREAT SAPEUR, YOU WANT ABOUT THIRTY SUITS.’

COCO FIRENZE, JULY 2018

to me about the tradition of La Sape. If we sapeurs, Roland de Londres). Coco’s after- liked each other, and my interest proved shave — as significant as the way one wears genuine, they might show me more inside one’s tie-pin — was Thierry Mugler (Palas their own neighbourhood, Mikalou, on the preferred Nina Ricci). ‘Thirty-five years a far side of town. sapeur,’ Coco proclaimed: ‘My father was a When I arrived, Coco Firenze — named sapeur before me. My grandfather worked after Coco Chanel and the fashion city of for a missionary, who gave him his first set Florence — was enjoying a cold beer with of clothes.’ seven of his friends who’d come along. Sapeurs have two ways of dressing, ex- There were two women and five men, all of plained Roland de Londres: formal attire, them immaculately groomed, and dressed and casual (denim and shirts are fine, but in suits with every kind of tie, from polka the rules still apply). Occasions vary, but the dot bows to pinned cravats. Coco was a best ‘displays’ are generally at weddings, barber, another was a butcher, another an funerals and street demonstrations when electricity engineer. a group gets together and promenades Coco stood up and shook my hand with through their local neighbourhood. Many an old-fashioned gallantry – civility is an members, like Coco, grow up learning the important part of a sapeur’s code of behav- rules from their parents. Others join later, iour. Then he walked away from the table, inspired by the respect the sapeurs com- did a dandyish pirouette and a curious ‘dis- mand among the local people. This was Pa- play’, clacking his heels, throwing his hips las’s motivation, who joined in 1982 when out to one side, and pausing to pose. ‘It’s he encountered a famous sapeur in the not a dance; it’s just a hello,’ said Jacques street: ‘He dressed very oddly, which was Palas, another in the party (all sapeurs have why people nicknamed him “L’Étranger” theatrical pseudonyms — it’s part of the or The Stranger.’ rules). Recently, women have been able to Coco, who was the best dressed in the become part of the association, includ- group, wore a cashmere blended wool ing one of the first femalesapeurs of the three-piece suit in a cream-and-yellow Congo, Messanie Grace, who joined our windowpane check, with beautiful hand- lunch. The women dress like men, with stitched lapels. He unbuttoned the jacket the same gamut of accessories: spectacles, to show me the label: Yves Saint Laurent. canes, fedoras, pocket squares, cigars and Sapeurism has spread It was one of seven he owned. ‘To be a umbrellas. Like the men, the hair must be out of the Congo into great sapeur, you want about thirty suits,’ worn short and neat, and they must be ‘well other countries, where the he said. His dress shirt was a crisp white, perfumed’. The most important rule, how- origins and motivations and his shoes a black leather, Louis Vuitton ever, is around the use of colour. A sapeur vary. In Brazza, the old tradition stays strong as brogue (‘English shoes and Pierre Cardin should wear at least two colours, and never the rules are passed on to are the best,’ explained another of the more than three at any one time. the next generation. 94 AVAUNT

Personal grooming – one's haircut and choice of scent –matters as much to a sapeur as the label of his or her suit. 96 AVAUNT AVAUNT 97

‘A sapeur needs to dress like a garden, to be bright, like a flower, MANY OF THE and above all, eye-catching,’ said Coco. ‘You need to be interested FIRST SAPEURS in fashion to understand sapeu- WERE SERVANTS. rism, and even then, it’s different,’ said Palas. BY DRESSING LIKE I explained how in the post-co- lonial west, there’s criticism that THEIR MASTERS, the sapeurs are just perpetuating the look of the colonial oppressor. THEY WERE The group threw back their heads in disbelief. ‘Sapeurism is an image CHALLENGING of power,’ said Palas. The group ex- plained it as a kind of peaceful pro- THEIR SUPERIORITY test, proof that even a poor Con- golese is his own master. ‘White – IT WAS AN people only ever made the suits, ESSENTIALLY but they never knew how to wear them,’ said Palas. ‘White people REBELLIOUS only wear jeans these days. That’s why you can’t say we copy white GESTURE. people. We take the clothes from them and wear them better.’ A couple of days later, they showed me how. It was a Satur- day, and I met them on their home turf — the same men and women from the lunchtime party, plus ten or fifteen more. The streets of Mi- kaolou were heaving with green taxis and market sellers, the foot- fall throwing up clouds of dirt and dust. Kids were playing soccer with homemade footballs, among open sewers and goats grazing on heaps of trash. Coco emerged from his premises — a one-room barber’s shack with a couple of chairs. It was edgy. As I followed the sa- peurs through the streets, the traffic slowed, and bus drivers blew their horns in respect at the display. We stopped at a makeshift bar, and I bought a few rounds of beer. We danced to a loud speaker system, among friends and family, and then an hour or two later, left to parade through the main marketplace, to an almighty cheer. (Continues on page 105).

The way sapeurs dance is all part of a ‘display’ to show off their style – often holding a pose for two, three seconds. 98 AVAUNT

‘Displays’ by sapeurs happen rarely – organised off-the-cuff for celebrations like holidays and weddings. A passport is a sign of sophistication among sapeurs – carried like an ‘accessory’, to assert the fact they are men and women of the world. 100 AVAUNT AVAUNT 101

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I was walking behind Bifouma, a magnificently dressed grandmother, with hair dyed in the colours of the Congo flag, her neat waist pinched with a perfectly tailored suit in lip- stick red. Her two young grandsons were primped and preened in suits; they moved through the street, pir- ouetting and jiving, as if they were dancing to music inside their heads. It was a perfect example of how the sapeur tradition works as an act of defiance. The boys were orphans, and Bifouma wanted to teach them pride. That’s why they had all joined La Sape. It was a way of simultane- ously escaping and challenging the problems life had thrown at them. Bifouma, I discovered later, ran a market stall that sold second-hand shoes. It was located close to where the charcoal sellers, who are the poorest of the poor, peddled their wares. Yet the sense as we walked past was not of hardship but of cel- ebration. As Bifouma’s arms waved in the air, her friends reached out their hands to touch her and cheer her on. With the procession moving around them, Bifouma and her boys paused for a while, strutting and dancing like peacocks. The roars of the crowd as they swayed in the Congolese sunshine, their chests blown out, the colour of their suits an explosion in the African dust. ‡

Sophy Roberts travelled as a guest of Journeys by Design. � journeysbydesign.com