Long Awaited Street Fashion Post

Hi all - Was asked a LONG time ago to take pictures of people wearing pagne on the street. I finally got to it on Thursday, and of course it was a very light day for people wearing pagne, not a lot of variety and not lots of people about. It seems that every lady I caught was wearing a conservative dress with sleeves, which is not always the case, but this is what I was able to capture. Didn't get any guys shirts, but those are pretty self-explanatory if you know the fabric. I did manage to get a few bonus street sightings that I thought you might enjoy (egg man!) Here goes!

Lady waiting for the bus in pretty shirt with skirt... my personal favorite is when the frame has the President's face in it, but it can also have a saint or in this case maybe a building?!?

Pretty bordered pagne for the shirt and skirt, along with her sun umbrella!

Generally Congolese people love the large pouffy sleeve - I could never get into it, but it's very popular.

Balancing things on one's head is an art form here! Also, see guy with his two wheeled cart carrying bottles. They are used for everything here. It never ceases to amaze me how much the wheels look like they should fall off but they stay on!

EGG MAN! If you can see on the left side of his eggs (hard boiled) there's a red jar of pili pili salt (spicy salt) attached for him to season people's eggs!

Need any shoes today?

This is a more casual look with a pagne skirt and regular T-shirt. I hate to generalize, but mostly (from what I have seen) worn by people who are slightly less well off.

Have bleach, will travel (carrying container in his left hand)

Ok, so sorry for the terrible picture quality and the fact that I only seemed to get ladies leaving the office who wear more loose outfits, there are very fitted ones that you can see as well, but I hope you get the gist. I now have a photographic record of my commute to weightlifting on Avenue de Justice, my favorite street. (Tree lined and busy but not crazy) Before I arrive in Kinshasa, they widened the main boulevard to allow for more traffic, which is a good thing (imagine if they hadn't) but the trees and character of 'The Boulevard' are now much less pronounced. (It's still teeming with people and all kinds of activity, but there is little foliage and just a lot of cars, 3 lanes each way.) That's why I love this street instead. Anyway, next weekend I am headed on my little jaunt to my 5th African country! I will be sure to update you upon my return. Much love!