Because a sapeur’s garments explicitly represent an aspirational mindset, Tamagni followed his subjects’ daily lives as a documentary-maker, not a fashion photographer. “There are no artificial poses, because subjects respond themselves with their gestures and poses as affirmed actors,” he says. The sapeur is conscious of his persona at all times.
     Whether that persona is optimistically scrupulous or a harmful façade is the central question asked by outsiders. Sapeurs have been accused of neglect, driven by their materialism to deny their loved ones the money it takes to buy a Gucci belt. Smugglers have also, inevitably, set up house in Brazzaville to provide illegal designer wear. But Tamagni’s portraits reveal thoughtful individuals: confident, conscientious men for whom the divide between public and private life is all but negligible. In Sape society, to take up fashion is to take a stand.