The Gentlemen of Bacongo

[volatile]

A stocking filler book for the sartorially-inclined - The Gentlemen of Bacongo! http://www.trolleybooks.com/bookSingle.php?bookId=118

I'd read about these guys a while back (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/24/cloth_cult_why_congo.html and http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/28/world/fg-dressers28), but there's now a photo-book chronicling their activities - they're called Sapeurs, and part of a subcultural trend in the Congo which sees guys spending literally everything they earn on high-end suits, even to the point of eschewing food...

 

[volatile]

Seriously? No-one thinks this is interesting or cool or even controversial enough to bother commenting on?

 

[cookie]

I have seen them before...I just thought they may have been an undisclosed Congolese branch of the Fedora Lounge...lol lol

 

[Chasseur]

This is an awesome photo and the guy is sharp!

 

[Bustercat]

Nice suits!

It's nuts to go that far for fashion, but they spend it well.

Swenkas from South Africa:

What's interesting to me, is that they take their fashion cues from the golden age rather than go after modern armani, etc. Why do you think? And would this be analogous to the way jazz guys dressed in the states in that era, or would it be more flamboyant (like zoot suits?)

 

[Phineas Lamour]

mmmmmmmm......bacon

Those photos are awesome. I hope these guys don't wear my hat size. It's hard to win auctions against people who don't spend money on food. Given the choice between a vintage suit and food for the next week, I almost always pick food.

 

[filfoster]

Eat to live, live to look good

Those photos are awesome. I hope these guys don't wear my hat size. It's hard to win auctions against people who don't spend money on food. Given the choice between a vintage suit and food for the next week, I almost always pick food.

Me too. Must have well dressed corpses at the funerals.

 

[reetpleat]

There was another thread on this too. I love their style, but think it is a shame the fetishize labels as much as they do, but then again, they obviously also have good eyes for style and put it together well.