Thebe Magugu founded his eponymous, ready-to-wear brand in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2017. Born in Kimberly, a small mining town in central South Africa, Magugu moved to Johannesburg to study at LISOF Fashion School (now The School of Fashion). Since its launch the brand has gone from strength-to-strength, winning the prestigious LVMH prize in 2019.
Magugu is known for his thoughtful and inventive collections which comment on the history, culture and politics of South Africa and Africa more generally. Through his work Magugu hopes to shine a light on lesser-known stories and histories, focusing on women’s histories in particular: ‘When people think of South Africa they typically think of Apartheid, people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. People think of the men most frequently, and a lot of the women’s histories and smaller stories that were equally as important are left to the margins.’

This ensemble comes from Magugu’s Alchemy collection released for Autumn/Winter 2021. The collection is a meditation on African spirituality, celebrating its pluralities, and the relationship we all have with our ancestors. For it he collaborated with Noentla Khumalo, a stylist and traditional healer. As part of the research process Khumalo threw onto a mat her divination tools, including goat knuckles, a police whistle and a die, which Magugu then photographed and abstracted into the print design seen on the shirt dress, apron and trousers. The ensemble is styled with a straw hat and a pair of white leather boots. The boots are the brands first shoe design, named the ‘Sunday Best Boot’. Magugu has explained that the exaggerated pointed toe of the boots references the elongated shoes worn by pastors in downtown Johannesburg.