Mondele

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Mondele 〰️

Sapologie in St. Louis

Wardrobe and promotional materials for a coming-of-age film about a Congolese-born teen growing up in the American experience.

Daniel Kayamba loves fashion. I love fashion. He asked me if I’d be interested in doing wardrobe for his film one day in a meeting room at work, and I didn’t even ask him what the movie was about before saying, “YESSSSS!”

Top: Groupings of wardrobe and accessories I chose for Mondele. Bottom: Character illustrations of the entire Mondele cast (in costume!) created for use in promotional materials.

If you’re thinking, “I’m not sure you are the right person for this job, that doesn’t make a lot of sense” well first of all that's pretty offensive to Daniel. Wow. And I would normally agree, except that once I learned about Congolese dandies, I realized that I am in fact, a Congolese dandy. Sounds crazy I know, but it’s just science.

The actors playing the teen characters dressed as cowboys, for some good ol’ fashioned American symbolism (Daniels’s idea). PS all of the belts in this pic are my belts.

This film relies heavily on the wardrobe to help tell the story. Contrasting colors and traditional African vs more modern/American styles help make characters who have tension, have even more of a visual separation. With some creatively frugal shopping, collaboration with the actors, and quite a lot of my own stuff from home, we were able to come up with a big group of great ‘fits and accessories on a cozy budget.

Top: The main character, Nathan (played by Stevin Mulimi) wears his cowboy shirt and patterned pants in cool colors, contrasting his mother’s warmer-toned traditional Congolese dress and headwrap.
Bottom: Jewelry and headwraps, amoung the clothes and accessories I brought for the extras in the “church” scene.

One thing I learned doing wardrobe was that, at least on set, my main job seemed to be to keep track of all these little things in case we needed to reshoot scenes. Somehow everything seemed to be lost at all times. It was also 95 degree Missouri heat in August, and I just want to apologize for buying so much unbreathable fabric.

Left: Nathan and his mother arrive to clean the house of “Ashley.” Right: Ashley, bless her heart.

The teens in Mondele, making a movie within a movie (and sweating in polyester). Not featured in the movie: My dumb Smart car.

Mondele has a scene featuring two Congolese La Sape, or “dandies,” and I was particularly excited to dress these characters. Not only the creative expression of fashion, but the performance aspect, and the refusal to be defined. Thinking of yourself as “fancy” even though you’re not. Except, you are! When you wear a bowtie and smoke a fake wooden pipe, you are fancy. When you carry a lace umbrella and wear gold brocade velvet pants, you are fancy.

This scene was so much fun to watch happen. Great choice of location, too. They stomped their feet and said a lot of things in French. They definitely turned some heads in STL!

The La Sape, or Congolese dandy characters were my favorite part.

Mondele is making the rounds as we speak in festivals, and was recently screened at the Hi-Pointe theatre in St. Louis. It’s beautifully shot, written, edited and so funny and sweet. Honored I got to watch it happen. I hope Daniel becomes famous and makes a bazillion dollars so he can quit his job. That’s the real American dream.

Daniel & me, on set.

Behind the scenes of Mondele!

I created a group of promotional materials for the movie after we wrapped: a poster, thank-you cards for financial donors and other contributors to the film, character illustrations, and an enamel pin set featuring three of the characters. We used these as incentives to donate to help pay for the remainder of the edit, as well as selling merch at the screenings.