Background information
Their followers call themselves 'Sapeur' (or female: 'Sapeuse'). Most sapeurs work during the day as cab drivers, tailors or gardeners, but after work they turn into casual and elegant dandies. When they strut through the streets, they are cheered like rock stars - they stand out and bring a little lightness to an everyday life that is completely at odds with this elegant style of dress. Although 'La Sape' was traditionally reserved for men, more and more Congolese women and children are now wearing designer fashion. The motto is: 'White people invented clothes, but we make art out of them'. (© Papa Wemba, 1949-2016, Congolese musician and style icon of the Sapeur movement). (© Kehrer Verlag, 2020)
Content
"The London photographer Tariq ZAIDI shows a fascinating subcultural fashion movement in Kinshasa and Brazzaville: La Sape, Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (Society of Moodmakers and Elegant People).
About British photographer Tariq ZAIDI
Photo books by Tariq ZAIDI
- Format
- HC (no dust jacket, as issued), approx. 19 x 27 cm., 144 pp., 120 color ills., text language: English