When can fashion be considered an act of social activism — even subversion?
When it’s being worn by men roaming the streets of a depressed, war-torn African country dressed in candy-colored three-piece suits, bow ties and fedoras.
What started as a 19th century form of resistance against French colonizers in Republic of the Congo has evolved into an group of local fashionistas known as “sapeurs” who are lifting spirits and celebrating life by following this simple mission: dress to impress, according to a report in OZY.com.
Members of La Sape — short for the “Society for the Advancement of Elegant People,” — have ordinary jobs as taxi drivers, electricians or policemen, but they find that
dressing with style helps them transcend their often dire circumstances.
“Even if I don’t have money in my pocket, I only need to wear a suit and tie to feel really at ease,” said Prince Armel, a young sapeur who works as a painter.
La Sape first emerged as as a way to resist French colonialism, OZY reports. In the 19th century, servants often got paid by their wealthy employers in clothing instead of money. So servants began to embrace European dress style as a means of combating colonial superiority.
Spending money on canes and silk socks might seem frivolous in a country where half of the population suffers from extreme poverty, OZY reports, but the movement aims to do more than help people forget their troubles. It has become a subtle form of social activism.
The first sapeurs started copying French “dandies” but soon got creative and added their own spin on the style as an act of subversion.
“The white man may have invented clothes, but we turned it into an art,” says famed Congolese musician King Kester Emeneya, who helped popularize the style.
Sapeurs dream of visiting Paris to get their hands on labels such as Dior, Gucci, Jean Paul Gaultier, Armani, Kenzo, Versace and Yamamoto, OZY reports. There are some popular tailors and luxury shops in Brazzaville, but most sapeurs prefer to get their clothes directly from the old world, depending on friends who visit from fashion hubs in Paris and London.
It isn’t cheap. A pair of trousers can sell for $300, and imitations are not an option. The average national per capita income in Congo-Brazzaville is an estimated $3400. Crocodile shoes can run $1,300; designer suits, $3000. Sapeurs borrow money and clothes from each other. Some have been known to rent designer suits for $25 a day.
Sapeurs reflect grace and respect with each swaggering step, OZY reports. Sapeurism is more than just a sartorial style; it’s also a philosophy. Sapeurs may revere the top designers, but they believe it’s not so much the value of the clothes as the man who wears them. So they stick to a code of honor that dictates they behave like true gentlemen, reflecting grace and respect with each swaggering step.
“I don’t see how anyone in La Sape could be violent or fight. Peace means a lot to us,” said Severin, a 78-year-old whose father was also a sapeur.
After years of civil conflict, some have learned that La Sape can even help heal the wounds of infighting.
“The war created a lot of ethnic division, especially between the north and the south. But La Sape is what allows us to come together again,” Ferole Ngouabi told OZY. If he and his fellow sapeurs fight, it’s over who’s wearing the most dazzling outfit when they gather to dance Congolese rumba.
The movement brings color and hope to the lives of Congo’s downtrodden, and they’ve recently been gaining in notoriety. Sapeurs are now the stars of a Guinness commercial, strutting their stuff and celebrating their individual styles, OZY reports.
