{"product_id":"sapeurs-ladies-and-gentlemen-of-the-congo","title":"Sapeurs — Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo","description":"\u003cp data-end=\"814\" data-start=\"254\"\u003eBritish photographer Tariq Zaidi’s \u003cem data-end=\"333\" data-start=\"289\"\u003eSapeurs: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo\u003c\/em\u003e offers a vivid portrait of La Sape—Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes—a sartorial subculture that emerged in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo as both spectacle and defiance. Its followers, known as Sapeurs (and Sapeuses for women), dress in razor-sharp designer suits, vibrant accessories, and theatrical aplomb, creating a living art form of self-respect and performance in direct contrast to the economic hardships surrounding them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1414\" data-start=\"816\"\u003eZaidi’s portraits are set in alleys, markets and makeshift stages, capturing not just style but a charged relationship between identity and place. These figures, often taxi drivers, gardeners, or tailors by trade, transform into dapper icons once off duty—“turning heads, bringing joie de vivre to their communities,” as the book notes. Their visual codes, though borrowed from colonial Western fashion, are utterly reappropriated. “White people invented the clothes, but we make an art of it,” said Papa Wemba, the late Congolese musician and Sapeur icon, whose words resonate throughout the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1905\" data-start=\"1416\"\u003eThe images alternate between flamboyant detail and grounded context, challenging traditional fashion photography with their street-level intimacy and sociopolitical clarity. Notably, Zaidi includes women and children in his lens, marking the recent expansion of La Sape beyond its patriarchal roots. Published by Kehrer Verlag in 2020, the book is bound in half-cloth with colour-saturated plates throughout—a striking visual testament to dignity, self-fashioning and joy against the odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"1926\" data-start=\"1907\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"1926\" data-start=\"1907\"\u003eTechnical Sheet\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2042\" data-start=\"2031\"\u003eDate\u003cbr data-end=\"2038\" data-start=\"2035\"\u003e2020\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2089\" data-start=\"2044\"\u003eTechnique \/ Printing Method\u003cbr data-end=\"2074\" data-start=\"2071\"\u003eOffset printing\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2139\" data-start=\"2091\"\u003eMedium \/ Materials\u003cbr data-end=\"2112\" data-start=\"2109\"\u003eHalf-cloth hardcover, paper\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2173\" data-start=\"2141\"\u003eEdition \u003cbr data-end=\"2160\" data-start=\"2157\"\u003eFirst edition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2240\" data-start=\"2204\"\u003eDimensions (cm)\u003cbr data-end=\"2222\" data-start=\"2219\"\u003eApprox. 24 × 17 cm\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2268\" data-start=\"2242\"\u003eLanguage (books)\u003cbr data-end=\"2261\" data-start=\"2258\"\u003eEnglish\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2293\" data-start=\"2270\"\u003ePages \u003cbr data-end=\"2286\" data-start=\"2283\"\u003e176 pp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2337\" data-start=\"2295\"\u003ePublisher \/ Editor (books)\u003cbr data-end=\"2324\" data-start=\"2321\"\u003eKehrer Verlag\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2370\" data-start=\"2339\"\u003eISBN (if known)\u003cbr data-end=\"2357\" data-start=\"2354\"\u003e9783969000241\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2393\" data-start=\"2372\"\u003eCondition\u003cbr data-end=\"2384\" data-start=\"2381\"\u003eNEW\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"2425\" data-start=\"2395\"\u003eProvenance\u003cbr data-end=\"2408\" data-start=\"2405\"\u003eDarwin Collection\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DaRWIN","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52431911256402,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0999\/7058\/0818\/files\/MAISONSCLOSES_b30cb330-4eb4-4ba4-b2e0-bedf0a4e32a2.jpg?v=1768210286","url":"https:\/\/thedarwin.es\/products\/sapeurs-ladies-and-gentlemen-of-the-congo","provider":"DaRWIN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}