A character represented by your clothing: The gibão as metaphor of the paulista bandeirante

Abstract

The article focuses on the process by which the bandeirante paulista figuration was associated, during the 20th century, with a specific item of clothing, the gibão de armas, a type of vest characterized by the presence of seams forming lozenges. First figured in a painting by Oscar Pereira da Silva, based on an engraving by Debret and commissioned for the Museu Paulista, the gibão became one of the identifiers of this character, along with other items of his clothing, such as hats and boots. It is also examined the social propagation of this visual convention, in order to show the circuits of its diffusion from its placement in the Museum. In that sense, the municipal coats made by Afonso Taunay and José Wasth Rodrigues are especialliy examined, in which sometimes the figuration of the character ceases to be conveyed, being replaced metonymically by his characteristic clothes.