Thebe Magugu’s Spring 16 Editorial is Suave in the City

Many outside South Africa will get their first brush with the genius that is designer Thebe Magugu in a few weeks when his collaborative collection with wunderkind Rich Mnisi is debuted at South Africa Menswear Week, but the designer has been at the plough, perfecting his craft, if his Autumn Winter 16 collection is a good enough litmus test to judge his design work by. To celebrate the launch of his online platform, the designer has released campaign images for the new collection ‘A Social Science’ and spoken at length about the motivations behind the collection.

Anyone with a history in South African social sciences will tell you that we are a hard people to decode, simply because there is so much to us. As much as the effects of a turbulent past and the fear of an unpredictable future has made us into a conservative and highly superstitious society, our ability to re-invent and re-purpose both ourselves and objects around us speaks of the inherent creativity forged by our need to ‘cope and survive’.

This attitude that runs through all Africans, especially here in South Africa. The constant socio-political and economic flux results in a touch-and-go mentality, which might show emotional and physical dexterity – but one, unfortunately, that is a result of emotional and physical upheaval.”

The new collection, like many collections from South African designers is heavily influenced by the country’s vibrant youth subcultures, but Magugu’s is particularly inspired by the events surrounding the Soweto Youth uprisings against apartheid, which took notes from the human rights movement of the United States in the sixties.

He intepretes many of the elements of the time for a 21st century audience while somehow leaving its essence untouched. Layering and leather, berets and pinafores, he manages to take all these individual elements and craft them into a cohesive whole, proving his genius.

Paul Simons does amazing work on the campaign, the images are as perfect as can be of the times they are inspired by, as are the models. We cannot wait to see what he does with Mnisi.

PHOTO CREDITS

Photography: Paul Samuels
Styling: Ben Eagle
Models: Bianca, Iman, Loren, Niler, Tahtam (all BOSS models JHB), Bianca (ICE), Elio (PVT)
Make-up: Annice Roux

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