Clothing used for: Escapism

With such an inflexible political system the real benefit of the Sapeurs dress cannot come from changing government attitudes but the attitudes of those closest to them. Such a uplifting displays of flamboyance and fantasy provides welcome respite from the brutality so much of the population has endured. The Sapeurs recreate the exuberant atmosphere that used to be part of Congolese day-to-day life. Their message was one of hope: "we have been spared by the hostilities and we are lucky to be alive!"

Escapist dressing of the Sapeurs and New Romantics

A similar ideal of escapist dressing soon morphed developed on from the Punk movement in England, led by those who had been more interested in the sartorial aspect of dressing up than the anarchic statement of Punk fashion. Looking for new ways to stand out and set themselves apart from the rest of the dreary, futureless working public, they began to experiment with cross dressing, high glamour and camp attitudes. Unlike Punks, who dressed to highlight the problems inherent within the British class system, the fantastical clothing fo the New Romantics allowed them to escape it completely. Like the Sapeurs, their dressing up bore no relation to money or social mobility. Instead creativity became the new currency. 

 “It didn’t matter who you were, you couldn’t get in unless you were cool” – Door policy of the infamous Blitz club

The Blitz Club, London - the birthplace of the New Romantic movement

STEVE STRANGE It was about being creative, we wanted to start something that didn't have anything to do with punk.

RUSTY EGAN: “It was a horrible time of recession. Covent Garden was isolated and badly lit. But then you'd walk into the club and it was like ‘Ta-da!’”

RUSTY EGAN The song that became the anthem of the club was Heroes by Bowie. "Just for one day" you could dress up and be more than what Britain had to offer you.

I
I will be king
And you
You will be queen
Though nothing will
Drive them away
We can beat them
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
Just for one day

STEVE STRANGE “Nobody should knock escape and fantasy, dressing up like a Hollywood film star because they're getting away from it, escaping the nine to five.”

SIOBHAN FAHEY, BLITZ CLUBBER AND BANANARAMA MEMBER “We'd spend the whole week preparing our outfits for the club. We'd go and buy fabrics, customise our leather jackets, make cummerbunds, find old military things and throw them together in a mix of glam, military and strangeness. It was all DIY because we didn't really have any money.”

SIOBHAN FAHEY “It's funny, we're in a recession now and I feel like we've got back to the DIY mood of the Blitz time. I do think the affluence and crazy marketing of the 90s killed people's creativity. It was all like, "You've got to have this or you're nobody." Now we've come full circle and I love it.”

Original Blitz Kids Boy George and Marilyn