Laduma Ngxokolo founded South African knitwear brand MAXHOSA AFRICA in 2012. Ngxokolo became interested in fashion design as a teenager when his mother, also a designer, bought a knitting machine for the home. Ngxokolo remarks this move ‘changed my direction in life forever’.
MAXHOSA AFRICA has a strong visual identity, known for its bold and colourful geometric knits, whose patterns reference Xhosa beadwork.

The Apropriyeyshin dress is part of the 2017 Spring/ Summer collection, and was one of the first dresses to be made by Ngxokolo. With this collection Ngxokolo wanted to address cultural appropriation, but from a positive angle, recognising the way fashion can be used to celebrate different cultures and material traditions. For the collection he combined his staple Xhosa inspired patterns with traditionally western silhouettes, in this instance a form-fitted knitted maxi dress. Ngxokolo recongises that in wearing his Xhosa inspired clothes there is appropriation of sorts, yet he insists that there is a “way the people of that culture feel empowered by this form of expression”, by ensuring the recognition of Xhosa heritage within the collection.