Dozens of them gathered on Friday, like every year, to celebrate Stervos Niarcos, whose song "La religion Ya Kitendi", in 1989, erected the search for clothing in the meaning of life.

"Kitendi" means "cloth" in Lingala, one of the national languages ​​of the Democratic Republic of Congo, also spoken on the other side of the Congo river, in Brazzaville.

A Congolese "sapper" dandy during a rally in Kinshasa, February 10, 2023 in the DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

These followers of the "Sape", for "Society of ambianceurs and elegant people", began their show on the boulevard du 30 Juin, the largest artery of Gombe, the most opulent district of Kinshasa.

They then gathered in the cemetery adjoining the boulevard, around the tomb of their own "pope".

In front of journalists and onlookers, they strike a pose, exhibit a flamboyant and sometimes comical mix of designer clothes and very personal creations.

Congolese "sapeur" dandies during a rally near the tomb of Stervos Niarcos, their hero, on February 10, 2023 in Kinshasa, DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

Ibrahim, for example, wears a suit jacket and a long white cape over a checkered skirt that reaches his ankles.

A 52-year-old sapper, who calls himself Master Double Bass, shows off with his blue overalls signed by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto.

"It's very expensive," says the 50-year-old, who calls himself a math teacher.

Many are spending crazy sums to meet the Sape criteria, in a country where two-thirds of some 100 million people live below the poverty line - $2.15 a day according to the World Bank.

A Congolese "sapper" dandy during a rally in Kinshasa, February 10, 2023 in the DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

Others do with the means at hand and inspiration.

Kadhi Kadhitoza, 53, made his own costume from local linen, with cowrie shells as buttons.

"A thing that God created"

He considers Niarcos to be "the pope" of sappers.

Besides, he says, "clothes are something that God created", originally to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve after they sinned in the Garden of Eden.

The Congo has sappers but is also very religious.

"Everyone has their own way of praying," says Kadhi Kadhitoza.

A Congolese "sapper" dandy during a rally in Kinshasa, February 10, 2023 in the DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

In front of the tomb of Niarcos, some enumerate, in the form of a prayer, the brands of the clothes they wear.

Givenchy shoes, Comme des Garçons skirt, Kenzo hat...

A sapper leads a prayer.

"O, God of Sape", he launches.

"We pray to you. You were the first designer, the first designer, who did not want to see the nudity of man after Adam's sin".

The tradition of Central African dandies, born in Congo-Brazzaville, finds its origins in the colonial era, in the encounter between Africans and European fashion.

The phenomenon of sapeurs increased in the former Belgian Congo during the post-war economic boom, explains the writer André Yoka Lye, professor and former director of the National Institute of the Arts in Kinshasa.

Congolese "sapeur" dandies during a rally in Kinshasa, February 10, 2023 in the DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

Followers of the movement wanted to imitate the European style and live happily.

But their motives changed when Congo plunged into crisis after independence in 1960.

The sapper engages in "a kind of show of force beyond his means", analyzes the professor, "hence his eccentric side".

Yoka Lye thinks many of these modern sappers are frivolous, especially given the war in the east of the country.

Congolese "sapeur" dandy shoes, February 10, 2023 in Kinshasa, DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

The region has been plagued by violence by armed groups for nearly 30 years and has been experiencing an acute crisis since the resurgence at the end of 2021 of the "M23" rebellion, which seized large swaths of territory in North Kivu.

"We are at war. We shouldn't dress like circus clowns," says Yoka Lye.

There are nevertheless allusions to this war in the parade of the sappers.

Pearls drip from a dandy's glasses.

They represent the tears of the people of the East, he says.

A Congolese "sapper" dandy during a rally in Kinshasa, February 10, 2023 in the DRC © ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP

Kadhi Kadhitoza, with his homemade costume, simply considers that the Sape tradition is inseparable from Congolese culture.

"It's for the Congolese, for us."

© 2023 AFP