The Campaign for the “ANTHRO 1” collection, debuting exclusively on thebemagugu.com, is an exploration of objects strongly associated with my childhood in the township of Galeshewe.
TWO GIRLS & SHRINE Nostalgia is a wistful yearning, drawing on the Greek word nostos meaning a ‘return home’, a longing for, or a return to. We are invited to join in this ritual return to the community of Ipopeng. Sundays spent at church, in swirls of incense, song and worship, brings out the best dresses and the highest hopes. Here, shared hardships are momentarily suspended, swayed, and spirited away. In the Divine Lady of Fatima Shrine Catholic Church on Phillip Mpiwa Road, we meet friends Smangaliso Majola and Dimpho Jannice Julies. The two girls are caught between youthful innocence and their unknown future fates, gently watched over and protected by the Virgin Mary. Smangaliso wears a pale lilac shimmer feathered fit and flare dress with crystal buckle belt, and Dimpho Jannice Julies wears a delicate lilac, checked weave studded shirt and matching handkerchief skirt, both from AW20 “ANTHRO 1”. Their extremely fragile yet forceful beauty symbolically captures, like a shimmering prophesy, Ipopeng’s Setswana meaning, to ‘make yourselves pretty.’
The campaign for our new EXTRACURRICULAR line, debuting on www.thebemagugu.com and exclusive to all DOVER STREET MARKET stores, features emerging South African voices across the worlds of art, fashion, film, photography and literature, who continue to push the envelope in their respective fields.
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Black Aspirations & White Fear Sharing an intimate account of South Africa’s racial dynamics, ‘We Are Cool’ is a creative project and exhibition that consists of South African documentary photographers Reatile Moalusi and Jacque Nelle’s works, at this initial stage.
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Izithyilelo Zika Nzdimani From the Holy Trinity Church in Braamfontein to a hidden waterfall in Blairgowrie, Anthony Bila and Amy Zama take to sacred spaces to document eight of South Africa’s most agenda-setting voices, recreating and recontextualizing key scenes from The Good Book.
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SAFARI BLOUSE This semi-fitted moss crepe safari blouse features Trompe-l'œil printed pockets across the bust & elongated shoulder epaulettes that loop into a tab mid-sleeve. Ferrous-free utilitarian press studs dot the centre front. The printed version, which mimics a pinstripe, is a photograph of my aunt’s corrugated iron roof, taken where I spent most of my childhood.
IPOPENG EXT. CATALOGUE is the exhibition catalogue from the Thebe Magugu presentation at Palais De Tokyo. Its beautiful, brave and poignant studies invite you to share in the ongoing magic of my hometown Kimberley, where my everyday life, longings and dreams meet memories of the significant institutions that shaped me, threading a tapestry of fantastically imagined futures.