27 October 2022 |
Less than three weeks after staging his SS23 catwalk at London’s V&A museum, Thebe Magugu has achieved another career milestone. The South African designer – who won the LVMH Prize in 2019 – has been tasked by Maria Grazia Chiuri to reinterpret Dior’s New Look for a limited-edition capsule collection.
The collection is in aid of Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, a charity founded by the face of Dior’s J’Adore perfume that works to support youth throughout South Africa.
Dropping today at Dior flagships in Paris, LA and New York, the collection sees Magugu reinterpret the bar jacket as a T-shirt, which comes stamped with Magugu’s sisterhood emblem and is fitted with straps that allow the wearer to accentuate the waist. There’s also a knife-pleated, tulle circle skirt – a favourite of Chuiri’s – which juts out from the body, as well as updated versions of Dior bucket hats, the Dior Book Tote and Diorcamp boots; all stamped with the Dior Oblique pattern and featuring vivid yellow accents.
“I’m from a small mining town called Kimberly, a place which sometimes is completely overlooked on certain maps. But even there people are very familiar with Christian Dior,” Magugu told WWD. “It sort of revolutionised how women dress.”
The Johannesburg-based designer has continuously used his collections as a medium to bring South African stories to a global stage. Like his SS21 outing, which navigated the changing face of African spirituality. Or his debut menswear collection at Pitti Uomo in July 2021, which looked to South African inequality and the ramifications that corruption holds on the nation. His show at the V&A, dubbed Discard Theory, was a study of the effects of second-hand clothing dumped onto Africa and its effect on stylistic national identity.
Photography by Travys Owen. Shop the collection online and at Dior flagship stores in Paris, LA and New York.
