#hector mediavilla

[memoriae-lectoris]

La Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or La SAPE, is a league of extraordinary gentlemen dedicated to an exacting standard of personal style. The Sapeurs follow a strict dress code—the “Code of Sapologie,” which dictates such details as the height of socks, the style of a haircut, the telltale unfastening of a single button on a suit jacket cuff. According to historian Ch. Didier Gondola, Sapeurs carry ivory- or silver-handled walking sticks and wear finely tailored suits, designer colognes, horn-rimmed glasses, silk pocket squares, “J.M. Weston lizardskin loafers… Cartier watches.…”

[…] But these twenty-first-century boulevardiers hail from Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, and neighboring Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), two of the poorest and most troubled nations in the world […].

The Sapeurs have adopted—one might say appropriated—European sartorial traditions, not in sycophantic emulation of former colonists, but as an indigenous response to local conditions. In their hands, fine tailoring is a ceremonial costume; high-fashion trademarks become signs of civic ideals and what appears to be a destructive struggle for status is in fact a choreographed dance, symbolizing a peaceful competition for social esteem and expressing a critique of a society plagued by endemic violence and poisoned by oppression and corruption […].

Brazzaville Sapeurs tend to be more classical in their attire, while the Kinois of Kinshasa favor bolder colors and more eccentric styles, a difference historians attribute to a two-decades-long ban on Western attire in Kinshasa during the 1970s and 1980s. During the early 1970s, Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, imposed a series of cultural reforms known as the retour a l’authenticite (return to authenticity) designed to rid the nation of European influences.

[…] The abacost, along with thick horn-rimmed glasses, and leopard-print fez, or toque, became a personal signature for Mobutu, who controlled Zaire until 1997, when he was forced to flee following a civil war—but only after siphoning billions of dollars from the national economy as his people starved. Ironically the abacost, designed to unify the nation and level social distinctions, became an international symbol of the corrupt post-colonial autocrat.

[…] The Code of Sapologie is both a demanding dress code and a demanding ethical code: according to Spanish photographer Héctor Mediavilla, who has studied and photographed the Sapeurs since 2003, “a sapeur is, by definition a non-violent person, despite the three civil wars that have taken place since… independence. They stand for an exquisite morality… as they say, ‘there can only be Sape when there is peace.’ Their motto became ‘Let’s drop the weapons, let us work and dress elegantly.’ ” The Sapeurs deliberately refigure the physical violence that has scarred their nation for generations into a sartorial contestation: they stage “fights” in which “rival sapeurs will do battle with each other, flashing label after label, trying to best their opponents, stripping down, if necessary, to their underwear.” According to Mediavilla, “It’s combat, and the clothes are the weapons.” Like the zoot-suited pachuco, the Sapeur uses the fantasy of fashion to imagine an alternative social order in which elegance and style replace corruption and violence. The Sapeurs find dignity, hope, and joy in grim circumstances.

[dreams-of-mutiny]

Héctor Mediavilla Latingo Border #14, 2010 Fotografía : impresión de bellas artes48 x 60 x 0.3 cm

[profeminist]

There are thriving drag-king scenes in London, New York, Paris, Los Angeles — and, most subversively, Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, where these women are out-dancing, out-posing and out-dressing their peers. They are also fighting for female equality in a region decidedly not known for it. 

These are the Sapeuses, a branch of part of Le Sapeurs, aka the “Society of Elegant Persons of the Congo.” Formerly an all-male group, Sapeurs have been around since the beginning of the 20th Century, when colonial “masters” would gift their old clothing to their slaves.

Soon, the slaves found a way of rebelling.

“Captivated by the snobbery and refined elegance of the Coast Men’s attire, Congolese houseboys spurned their masters’ secondhand clothes and became unremitting consumers and fervent connoisseurs, spending their meager wages extravagantly to acquire the latest fashions from Paris,” writes Didier Gondola in the essay “La Sape Exposed!: High Fashion Among Lower-Class Congolese.”

“It’s not only about spending a lot of money on the clothes, but also the way they speak, the way they move,” Hector Mediavilla told NPR. “It’s a way of presenting their lives and being somebody in a society that doesn’t give you many opportunities.”

Read the full piece and watch the video clip here

[africastylemap]

The sapeurs, also known as the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People), are Congolese men who mastered the art of dressing and looking elegant, sophisticated, classic. Their colorful outfits are generally composed of a three-piece suit, fedoras, silk socks, and canes. The sapeurs style gets its origins from colonization.   "At the beginning of the 20th century, when the French arrived in Congo, the myth of the Parisian elegance was born among the youth of the Bakongo ethnic group," says photographer Hector Mediavilla. From the movement's popularization in the late 1970s/early 1980′s to nowadays, "la sape" has turned into an obsession for some members of the Societe. They are sometimes ready to spend up to four figures on crocodile shoes while having a profession that can financially sustain the haute couture lifestyle. However, the sape culture doesn't revolve only around being ostentatious. It is also about creativity, self-confidence, promoting values such as pacifism in a war-torn country, and doing and looking your best despite your circumstances.  

[vascadeloop]

Guinness - Sapeurs Creative Agency: AMV BBDO, UK Executive Creative Director: Dave Buchanan Production Companies: MJZ, Stillking Directors: Nicolai Fuglsig, Hector Mediavilla (Source: Vimeo)

[robynforest]

robynforest.com

Portfolio images

Photo essay shot by Hector Mediavilla for Colors Magazine.

[niamh-donoghue]

GETTING DANDY IN THE CONGO

Picture this: sewage-lined streets, crumbling concrete buildings and dirt roads. Who are the people you see in this environment? Do you see impeccably dressed men wearing tailored suits, silk handkerchiefs and smoking on cigars? If this is the image you have imagined, then you wouldn’t be far off the reality of these war infested shantytowns. Deep in the Congo, Brazzaville is home to the world’s…

[myafricais]

My Africa Is talks SAPE with Photographer Hector Mediavilla

“The Sape Movement is also very complex, there are many Sapeurs with different visions of things, the approach of some of these photographers who have worked this subject, doesn’t interest me, some people just try to show them as freaks, and that is not my interest.”

Full post here

[burnedshoes]

EXHIBITION: HÉCTOR MEDIAVILLA - S.A.P.E. at Newspace - Center for Photography, Portland, USA

Héctor Mediavilla’s series, S.A.P.E. documents the Sapeurs of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. The term Sapeur comes from la sape, which is French slang meaning “to dress with elegance and style”. It is also the abbreviation for Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, (Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People).

“At the beginning of the 20th century when the French arrived in Congo, the myth of the Parisian elegance was born among the youth of the Bakongo ethnic group, who were working for the colonizers. At that time, the white man was considered superior, someone showing better manners and elegance.

In 1922, Grenard André Matsoua was the first Congolese ever to come back from Paris dressed as a genuine French. His arrival caused indescribable commotion and admiration among his fellow countrymen; he became known as the first Grand Sapeur.



Having the respect and admiration of his community, today’s Sapeurs consider themselves artists. They add a touch of glamour to their humble environment through their refined manners and impeccable dressing styles. Each of them is unique showing a particular repertoire of gestures. 
They all share the same dream: To go to Paris and return to Brazzaville as an aristocrat of supreme elegance.” (Héctor Mediavilla)  

Exhibition dates: May 4 - June 2, 2013

  » find more exhibitions here «

[lookatthisstory]

In a poor city in a poor country on a poor continent, there is a group of people with a singular purpose: to look rich.

Or, rather, to look good — and to fully embody the suave, elegant style that a wardrobe of three-piece suits, silk socks, fedoras and canes might suggest.

They are called sapeurs or members of the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People). And when they go out, they turn the streets of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, into a fashion runway.

The Surprising Sartorial Culture Of Congolese 'Sapeurs'

Photo Credit: Hector Mediavilla/Picturetank

[myafricais]

Hector Mediavilla talks with us about his experience following the world famous Sape movement in Congo-Brazzaville, and the a luxury hotel turned squat in Beira, Mozambique.

Learn more about Hector and his work here:

www.HectorMediavilla.com

www.Pandorafoto.com

Hector's Vimeo Channel