“In life you cannot always choose what you do, but you can always choose who you are.”

Peace, cultural and gender identity, nation building, community, trade, economics, genealogy and family through the vehicle of fashion.

Read Adweek’s article “Ad of the Day: Congo’s Sapeurs Star in the Best-Dressed Guinness Commercial Ever: Central African elegance By David Griner.”

We need more stories like this about the continent of Africa. (Swagger not sympathy.)

A toast to Guinness for widening the lenses of collective memory and collective views of  Republic of the Congo, and to Adweek for recognizing the paradigm shift.

Edit 2/14/2014:

I’ve added the Sapeurs documentary below, because it is too good to overlook. It adds layers to my respect for both the Sapeurs and Guiness for recognizing them in such an elegant way. I love good storytelling.