Sapeur comes from la SAPE, short for Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People. The SAPE, like any club, has rules of conduct and of dress; it's centered around Brazzaville and Kinshasa, the adjacent capitals of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively.

This isn't a new subculture: the style of dress which the sapeurs imitate is that of the French and Belgian colonists who seized control over the Congo during the 1880s.

The ongoing conflict in the Congo has killed, so far, 5.4 million people, and made hundreds of thousands of Brazzaville and Kinshasa residents into refugees. According to the U.N. Human Development Report for 2007, just released last month, people in the Republic of the Congo have a life expectancy of just 53 years, and a per-capita GDP of $2,030, making it the 136th least developed country on earth. The Democratic Republic of the Congo fares even worse: its life expectancy is 47, per-capita GDP is $143. It is the 176th least developed country in the world.

The logistics of getting and maintaining a wardrobe of properly tailored, designer suits, plus shirts, accessories, jewelry, socks and leather dress shoes in such an environment is mind-boggling. Let alone keeping them clean.

It's hard to know how to read this particular trend: is this a post-colonial pastiche of the oppressors' style of dress? Or an example of a subjugated and still impoverished people hoodwinked into spending untold sums on European labels?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these dimensions of the sapeur phenomenon have been largely ignored by the fashion press. Dolce & Gabbana's luxury magazine, Swide, wrote about Tamagni's book as a kind of curio, calling it a "fascinating" and, of course, "refreshing" "unlikely style bible." The New York Times' The Moment blog said, "what makes these images so compelling is the way they stand out among such scenes of abject poverty — they pose in their Sunday best in weed-filled lots and peacock through the streets crowded with trash and half-dressed children." Writer Maura Egan even suggested that the sapeurs' "elegance and pride brings a nice dose of optimism to the region."

The book itself seems unwilling to treat the sapeurs as anything other than snazzy dressers who work really hard for their flamboyance. As designer Paul Smith writes in the introduction to Gentlemen of Bacongo, "It is incredible enough today to see men dressed so elegantly in capital cities like Paris or London, let alone in the Congo. Their attention to detail, their use of colour, all set against the environment they live in, is just fantastic."

There are, in case you're curious, sapeur videos on YouTube. (All the ones I saw were French language.) In this one, the camera follows a sapeur funeral cortege; at around the seventh minute, a mourner named Hassan Salvador pauses to show the interviewer the labels of his Mark Stephen Marengo — a Savile Row tailor — pin-striped suit and his purple Polo Ralph Lauren tie. Salvador also explains the precisions of sapeur style: socks must be a certain height, jacket vents of 32 centimenters are preferred, and a maximum of three colors can be used in one outfit. I've heard of men with bespoke suits leaving the bottom cuff button undone to casually indicate their sartorial know-how, since one of the tell-tale differences between an off-the-rack suit and a tailored article is working buttonholes. Salvador's cuffs are all undone. Just after him, another mourner, with neon-green socks, brags that he is the only person he knows who ever wears two ties at once. (And he makes those ties look good.)

Another video examines the sapeur diaspora in Paris; the journalist estimates that around 1,500 dandy sapeurs live in the city, concentrated in the heavily African neighborhoods of the 18th arrondissement. Everyone interviewed agrees that, as one man puts it, "When we're talking about Sub-Saharan Africa and clothes, we're talking about the Congolese. The Congolese from Brazzaville. Not the Angolans, not the Cameroonians, not the Côte D'ivoirians."

A documentary which screened at the New York African Film Festival earlier this year dealt with this phenomenon of Congolese coming to Europe, partly in search of jaw-droppingly expensive clothes, and the kinds of hardship they can face there. It centered around the Congolese musician Papa Wemba, a onetime collaborator of Peter Gabriel, who charges fans for "dedications" — having their names sung — and was arrested in 2003 for importing 350 illegal immigrants, posing as his band members, at a cost of some $4,000 each.

Writes Patty Chang in a review of the documentary, The Importance of Being Elegant,

[Y]oung immigrant Congolese in Paris and Brussels who embrace the sapeur lifestyle, ‘battle' each other for the title of "Parisien" — the equivalent of an exceedingly stylish man — by flashing their labels in ritual dances in night clubs and mounting challenges through preening displays of label versus label...Often without the legal documents to stay in the country, the sapeurs beg, steal, and hustle (although the specifics of these illicit activities remain ambiguous in the film) for money to be able to afford the designer clothes to keep up with Papa Wemba's fashion ideology. In the documentary, one such sapeur named the "Archbishop" attempts to establish a name for himself in the Parisian Sape scene only to later come to the realization that the extravagant and flamboyant lifestyle has been nothing more than an illusion.

Chang compares the sapeurs to hip-hop stars who come out of extraordinary poverty in America craving designer labels as status markers, and indeed there is a line that can be drawn between la sape and "the glorification of material excess found in hip hop culture." But la sape undoubtedly predates hip-hop; it owes as much to the 19th century concept of the dandy as it does to anything else. Their preference for suits, Christianity, and abstention from drugs mark the sapeurs as strangely conservative.

Says Chang, "Fashion became a symbolic gesture of reclaiming power in times of economic deprivation and attempts at political dominance." And there certainly is something triumphant in a man walking through the slum he lives in, immaculately turned out. These men are presenting themselves to the world in exactly the way they want to be seen, and perhaps they are doing it because self-presentation is one of the few powers they have. But is it self-defeating to invest to such a degree in clothing? What about their families' needs? Why are there no women sapes? It seems like this book raises more questions than it really answers.

All images by Daniele Tamagni

Gentlement Of Bacongo [Amazon]
Fop Art: 'Gentlemen Of Bacongo' [NYTimes]
The Gentlemen Of Bacongo [Swide]
Shantytown Dandies of Bacongo [Telegraph]
Sapologie Ailleurs [YouTube]
Sape, Sapelogie, Sapologie, Histoire D'une Vie [YouTube]
A Matter Of Style [Fashion Projects]

Writes Sheidlower, the president's attire "was, by the standards of men's formal dress, simply incorrect." Wearing a white tie but not "white tie" is a no-no, and what's more, wearing the more formal neck ornament at a black tie event is to commit the sin of dressing more formally than the engagement demands. Sheidlower to the rescue! White tie, in case you need reminding,

is not simply a tuxedo worn with a white tie. It consists of a tailcoat, not a tuxedo jacket, and it is worn with a wing-collar shirt with a front of cotton piqué. The trousers traditionally have double piping on the side seam. Black tie consists of a tuxedo jacket (which traditionally has peak, not notch, lapels with satin or grosgrain facing) worn with a black bow tie and a pleated straight-collar shirt. The trousers have a single wide piping on the side seam.

This is all true. By the recondite system of conventions that govern men's formal wear, our new president was all kinds of wrong. (Sheidlower might have also pointed out that Obama wore a wristwatch — traditionally a no-no with evening wear for both sexes, because it implies you might be marking time instead of enjoying the sumptuous event.) But I can't help but wonder why sniffing that Obama wore the wrong suit is apparently Sheidlower's most urgent impression of the inauguration?

The point is, Obama, for all his formal wear code-switching, looked good. The notched lapels on his impeccably-fitted suit didn't distract from the elegance of the event. The white tie on his straight-collar shirt didn't even immediately jump out at me as wrong. And I certainly wasn't counting the stripes on his pants as I watched video clips on my laptop. Obama's overall look was strong, handsome, and well turned out. A certain creativity with the dress code is not, in my mind, a sin.

But what's what menswear always comes down to, isn't it? Despite the best efforts of designers like Hedi Slimane (who, although no longer at the helm of Dior Homme, will always be at the helm of my suit-loving heart), Thom Browne, and Stefano Pilati to make men's fashion about more than two-button or three-button suits, to inject it with some of the vitality and purposefulness that women take for granted in our ready-to-wear, dressing up as a dude is still about following rules more than it is about looking good. Can you imagine if we were still trapped in some timewarp where everyone was talking about Michelle Obama's inauguration day outfits in terms of the "right" colors for day and evening, the proper length of gloves, the right kind of hat and the ideal heel height? It's refreshing that so little of the commentary on her clothes has given even a cursory nod to such restrictive, convention-based notions. When it comes to one's choice of dress, maybe it's easier to be a woman than a man.

Obama's Fashion Faux Pas [Slate]

• Whoah. Prada Fall 2008 Menswear: Now featuring skirts! Oh yes, this is something guys would totally buy. [Chic Report]
  
• RIP Miu Miu menswear: The line will be discontinued as of the Spring 2008 collection. What, Miuccia just couldn't top skirts for men? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• WWD headline on Isaac Mizrahi's move from Target to Claiborne is: "Will He Hit Or Miz?" [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• And in other Claiborne news, the company is rumored to be in talks to license of its Dana Buchman label to Kohl's. [WSJ]

• Aeropostle, in an attempt to save the world and increase brand awareness, is launching a campaign called Teens for Jeans, encouraging its customers to donate their gently worn jeans at any Aeropostle store, to be given to homeless kids. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Anna Wintour must be a really good American Express customer: The credit card giant has just donated $500,000 to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which provides cash prizes to those young designers whom La Wintour deems worthy.
• Try to contain your excitement: Rihanna is doing a second umbrella line for Totes. [WWD, 2nd item]
• The after-party alone for Kate Moss's birthday last night cost approx. $40,000. [Vogue UK]
• Designer Charles Nolan on his latest philanthropic endeavors: "In the spring I'm hosting a group that's all about microlending...do you know that if you lend money to people, the 98 percent that pay you back are women? The two percent that don't—men!" His heart is in the right place. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Lily Donaldson, and Theodora Richards have been "brought on" by fashion label Joie to host a party for the house during Fashion Week to make the line seem hipper, cooler, younger, etc. Incidentally, Joie hired Vladimir Roitfeld (Julia's bro, Lily's beau) to put the party together. Incesterfuckin marvelous. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Saks Fifth Avenue's spring advertising campaign features not models but illustrations. Didn't Nordstrom just do that? [Sassybella]

This has yielded the following question: Which is the greater men's fashion offense? The, ahem, slightly-poncy skinny suit/cropped ankle combo? Or the hyper-masculine (or something) K-Fed poor little trucker boy look? Which turns you off more? And is there anything that men wear that actually ups their powers of attraction? Take our poll, or put your thoughts in the comments.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

JG: So today's NYT Styles section has this article on "innovative' menswear. Like, would you wear a skinny suit with a cropped ankle?
Don: "Innovative" is pretty much the word that gives your assertion credence.
JG: Indeed. So was my suspicion.
Don: This is great stuff.
JG: Like, would you rock that?
Don: Hahahahahha.
JG: It's not even esoteric. You know how you can rationalize absurd women's fashion with some overly-academic art historical-sociological explanation? You can't with this. This is a skinny checked suit. And no dude goes out looking to get laid — by a girl — wearing that.
Don: Okay, well, I like to not be harassed by people. That suit would definitely get a lot of "faggots" from strangers wearing that.
JG: Really, the sweater vest underneath the suit takes it to a whole other level. Like, you still might be safe without that.
Don: No, no you wouldn't. I don't know where you hang-out, but my favorite bar downtown has a lot of Cubs t-shirts. I feel weird walking in with a polo.
JG: Okay so even a gay man wouldn't wear that suit with a sweater vest?
Don: This one is probably worse...
JG: That's my thing with menswear! What purpose is it serving? No guy with an X-Box (or better, a Wii) will ever wear that. And it's never going to trickle down in some watered-down, derivative version, even.
Don: No, not at all.
JG: Guys who like beer, boobs, and video games are not going to adapt to that.
Don: I dream of a day when business attire is a jumpsuit. That way, I know exactly what I have to wear and only focus on the cleanliness of my underwear. Function is key. I would wear this. If I was going to a Halloween party. As Jarvis Cocker. But this could be a return to Rat Pack, no?
JG: Do you want to return to the Rat Pack?
Don: No. But I can see how it can appeal to certain men.
JG: What did you wear to work today?
Don: Taking the day off - KnivesOut t-shirt, jeans, and ghetto slippers.
JG: I think that is what every straight dude I know is prob wearing. Okay, my last menswear question is this — did you read the article I sent you? All that talk of pink silk pajamas? What would it take to get you into pink silk pajamas?
Don: Ohhhh no. I didn't read it, went straight for the pictures, like porn. I mean, looking at clothes and scoffing is far less painful than reading about clothes you really don't care about. But... I did want to make one point. The jeans/t-shirt/fuck it attitude does carry over to women as well.
JG: In what way?
Don: I was talking to some folks the other night about all that Victoria's Secret shit...
JG: Victoria's Secret is gross.
Don: But every now and then it's nice, kinda like role-playing with clothing. Okay , so I was talking to these 2 guys and 2 girls, like I was saying...
JG: Okay and what did they conclude?
Don: Well, it was more...heyyyy, favorite shit to see a girl in. And really, both dudes agreed it was when they use our button-downs in the morning. Of course, I'm partial to union-jack suits or underwear and an NHL jersey (and I don't even like hockey).
JG: But you don't like that because it's some profound sartorial statement — it's because it's nice to see a girl wearing your clothes the next morning.
Don: Ummmmm, maybe. It's also... holy shit, girls really are smaller than dudes.
My shirt can be a dress on my most women. (Unlike menswear!) But yeah, suits... I'm going to the Men's Wearhouse. And I'm not spending more than $500... maybe $600 if the shit's banging. I've had my one 5 hunny suit for a good 8 years. I have a thrift suit (30 bucks), but that shit needs some serious help. And I bought a suit for $150 because I was young and thought "Dude, Elvis Costello would totally wear this" — It's not that cool now. Yeah, suits are things you have to buy (funerals, weddings). I really think about a new bicycle, HDTV and the lust for tools (but since I don't own, it would be stupid, but damnnnnn I WANT IT). So right, that checkered suit, fuck that. Also, if we're going to boil it down... who's going to fuck you in that suit? You don't want to fuck that person!

Looking Like a Billion Bucks [NYT]

• After being bounced by Elle in favor of Joe Zee, the magazine's founding creative director Gilles Bensimon finally speaks. "I was never good with giving direction, day by day. I never asked to be director of a magazine," he says. "I was only photography director. The first day I got the position... I go, 'oh my gosh that's a mistake." [WWD, 1st item]
• Sympathizing with the plight of jet-setting beauty junkies everywhere, drugstores are set to introduce pre-packaged toiletry and make-up kits for use on airplanes. [WWD, 4th item]
• Glamour has secured a print exclusive to showcase Sarah Jessica Parker and her new clothing line Bitten on the cover of its June issue. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Designers Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs will be showing their menswear lines in Milan, not Paris, for the upcoming June shows. [WWD, 1st item]

Far be it from us to deprive the rich of their luxury, but we bet that if Tom Ford donated the 95% markup he'll be making on those sausage casings to a special fund, we could help him find something even more useful to do with the money than simply line his own coffers. Like buy every citizen of Bangladesh a set of those awesome MUJI cardboard speakers we've been reading so much about!

Tom Ford, Post-Gucci, Takes A Vested Interest In Menswear [WashingtonPost]
Can The Tom Ford Magic Translate To Menswear? [Wall Street Journal]

Related: Tom Ford Also Licensing His Name To Estee Lauder For Beauty Product Line [International Herald Tribune]