Thebe Magugu to Stage Runway Shows for the V&A’s Fashion in Motion Series

Words by The Folklore Team

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South African designer Thebe Magugu has been tapped by the V&A museum to present four runway shows as part of its Fashion in Motion event. On Friday October 7, the designer, who was the first African designer to win the LVMH Prize for emerging talent in 2019, will take to the British museum’s Raphael Court to show 25 looks from his SS23 collection “Discard Theory”.

Taking inspiration from traditional African silhouettes along with Western styles and motifs, the collection explores the use of secondhand clothing discarded by Europe and America in today’s African fashion landscape.

For the collection, the designer visited Dunusa, a popular location for secondhand clothes in Johannesburg to source materials to be reinterpreted into new garments.

Describing the collection as “trickle-up fashion”, Magugu says, “For this collection I thought about national identity politics, and how western influence has penetrated indigenous dress”. He added that he “found that Dunusa acts as a nexus between local and global, throwing everything into a melting pot that produces a post-modern interpretation of what African fashion is, and I’m delighted that I can bring these looks to the V&A for Fashion in Motion.”

Fashion in Motion 2022 is also taking place during the V&A’s “Africa Fashion” exhibition, which displays a key look from Magugu’s AW21 collection.

Now in its 20^th year, Fashion in Motion is a series of live fashion shows staged at the V&A in London, bringing the runway experience to life for a wide audience. This year’s edition is supported by philanthropist Libbie Scher Mugrabi and curated by Oriole Cullen, senior curator of exhibitions at the V&A. Fashion in Motion will also feature collections by designers Guo Pei, Harris Reed and Daniel Lismore.

Fashion in Motion is free to attend and tickets are available from September 29 at 10am on the V&A’s website.