III.5.4. "LOOKS," AN ART OF SOCIABILITY

Menu: 3.5.4. "Looks:" an art of sociability

APPEARANCE, SELF-EXPRESSION IN A HARMONIOUS COMMUNITY

A philosophy of African immigrants

Barbershop sign bought at Abidjan's Treichville market in 1973

Fred, vendor at Connivence, a men's wear store in La Goutte d'Or

In brief

• Making oneself a composition

• Hair, beards and moustaches

• How those styles began

• Barbershops and beauty salons

• Hair-dressers' salons' good humor

• Shops that continue the emphasis

• Africans' humanistic advertisements

• Detour: reinventing dandies

• Detour: politicizing Black men's fashion

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Next,

Making oneself a composition

MAKING ONESELF A COMPOSITION

SEEN IN LA GOUTTE D'OR

The first poster of the Institute of Islamic Cultures

# # #

Dressing to fit surroundings

» 

# # #

In my neighborhood, the diverse 13th,

such originality almost always comes from Blacks.

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Next,

Exuberant hair, beards and moustaches

EXUBERANT HAIR, BEARDS AND MOUSTACHES

EXPRESSIONS OF CONFIDENCE AND OPTIMISM

Young women adopt braids and color...

At a festival, 2025

Young men do the same...

Grocery cashier, 2000

                     Café waiter, 2021                                       In the métro, 2022

Security guard and bakery vendor, 2025 

       Barman, 2025                               Notions' vendor, 2025

Festival and trade show participants, 2025

The looks spread world-wide: African children admire them.

# # #

White — middle or upper class —  styles are much less individual. The careers of these Americans are unique, but their coiffures, moustaches and beards are conventional.

        

The New York Times (cropped)

Zoom

J.D. Vance, Vice-President of the United States and Zohan Mandani, Mayor, New York City  (both photos, 2025)

In Paris at least, male elites often wear black: 

Rue de Rennes, the main artery in the 7th, 2023

Rue de Babylone in the elegant part of the 7th, 2024. The upper-class buildings in the background emphasize status.

# # #

In this movie the man with short hair and no facial hair is unsure of himself and does not want to be noticed, in contrast to the self-confident figure he admires.

 

"Friendship," 2024 by Andrew DeYoung with Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. Image cut to emphasize figures / zoom

Black styles show confidence and individuality: 

For young men who work in street jobs, 

not offices? 

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Next,

How those styles began

HOW THOSE STYLES BEGAN

TOURNAMENT CONTENDERS WORE HELMETS TO BE IDENTIFIED FROM THE BLEACHERS... 

Book of Tournaments of René d'Anjou, 15th century, zoom

And athletes in the 2014 World Cup wanted coiffures that would identify them on television.

The Best and Worst of the Haircuts at this World Cup by hairdresser Franck Provost (in French with pictures), Huff Post, 2014

They thought of the haircut posters of their neighborhoods...

In 2013

That harked back

to signs in African markets.

Wood panel at Abidjan's Treichville market in 1973: Notice the "Kennedy" cut. 

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Next,

Barbershops and beauty salons

BARBERSHOPS AND BEAUTY SALONS

IN LA GOUTTE D'OR, HAIR IS IMPORTANT AND COIFFEURS ARE EVERYWHERE 

Start in the north and walk 20 minutes toward the Chateau Rouge métro station...

Adapted from an Internet map

• Rue Labat, a small street between two arteries (rue des Poissonniers and boulevard Barbès)

Arts a century apart

• Rue des Poissonniers... 

• Rue Boinod...

• The Chateau Rouge métro:

# # #

Going south, toward the Barbès métro:

On rue de la Goutte d'Or,

 barbershops face each other: 

On the left side of the street:

51 rue de la Goutte d'Or

On the right side:

42 rue de la Goutte d'Or

That salon at 11 at night.

Around the corner another salon,

on that evening closed at 10.

*    *    *

On very long rue de Ménilmontant,

in a neighborhood that is 

largely white, progressive and trendy,

a single barbershop and styles inspired by Blacks,

but that are much more limited. 

 

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Next,

Hairdressers salons' good humor