BBC Africa has been in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet a ‘Female Dandy’

Congolese dandies, or sapeurs as they are known, have gained a global reputation for their flamboyant fashion style. But Barbara Yves, a resident of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa, says you do not have to be a man to join the Society of Ambience-Makers and Elegant People.

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Being a dandy, she says, is in her blood. She says: “At the beginning, they laughed at us. They said we were out of our minds.”  Now she feels so accepted that,  “even the children follow me”.