Description

Tariq Zaidi – Sapeurs: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo
Publisher: Kehrer, 2020
Hardcover, 176 pages, English
Size: 27x19cm
New in seal

British photographer Tariq Zaidi presents a fashion subculture of Kinshasa & Brazzaville: La Sape, Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (Society of Ambiance-Makers & Elegant People). Its followers are known as »Sapeurs« (»Sapeuses« for women). Most have ordinary day jobs as taxi-drivers, tailors and gardeners, but as soon as they clock off they transform themselves into debonair dandies. Sashaying through the streets they are treated like rock stars – turning heads, bringing ‘joie de vivre’ to their communities and defying their circumstances. Traditionally passed down through the male line, many Congolese women and their children have recently begun donning designer suits. As Papa Wemba (1949–2016, Congolese singer and fashion icon who popularized Sape) once said: »White people invented the clothes, but we make an art of it.«