Multi-award winning designer, Thebe Magugu tells his life story through fashion.
Magugu is the founder of Thebe Magugu, a contemporary South African womenswear fashion label. He launched the brand in 2016 after studying fashion design, photography and media at the LISOF School of Fashion in Johannesburg.
In his latest collection, “Anthro 1” AW20, Magugu shares insight into his life in Ipopeng, Kimberly, where he spent much time in his aunt’s house. He pays homage to his aunt by photographing her corrugated roof and prints it onto a blade-shaped pleated skirt and blouse set.
The Thebe Magugu blade-shaped pleated skirt and blouse set in a Moss Crepe. Picture: Kristin-Lee Moolman. He also commemorated his late grandmother, Matiego Magugu, the lady who taught him about the women of the Black Sash.
Magugu's grandmother passed away September 27, 2009. To pay tribute, Magugu created a knife pleat skirt with a picture of his grandmother, who always wanted to go to Paris Fashion Week with him.
“Tribute to my grandmother, Matiego Magugu. Before she passed, we would always watch FTV together, and I promised her I'd take her to Paris for Fashion Week. In this way, she did," Magugu said.
The Thebe Magugu pleated skirt that features an old ID photo of his late grandmother. Picture: Travys Owen.
Although he couldn’t physically take her grandmother to Paris Fashion Week, he still made the Paris dream come true when he won the 2019 LVMH Prize, making him the first African designer to win the award.
The very same year, he also won the overall award for curation and fashion content at the International Fashion Showcase, supported by the British Fashion Council.
Magugu also broke another record when his designs made its way to Insecure, a critically-acclaimed American comedy-drama series.
On one of the episodes that aired earlier this month, Issa Rae, who plays Issa Dee, wore a Thebe Magugu New Safari Jacket from AW19’s “African Studies” collection.
To view more of his collection, check out @thebemagugu on Instagram.