Cape Town is a symbolic place for the designer Thebe Magugu. When he was nine years old, he took his first trip by plane from Kimberley in South Africa’s North Cape province to discover the cosmopolitan city with his mother and two uncles. While there, his mom bought him a camera, kickstarting an interest in photography which he would later study along with fashion design and media.
This week, the Johannesburg-based designer opened the doors to two parallel projects that will now establish his presence in Cape Town. Located on the idyllic grounds of Mount Nelson, a Belmond Hotel, are the Thebe Magugu Suite and a second outpost of his Magugu House, the concept store and gallery he launched in Joburg two years ago. Together, they build upon and transmit his multi-faceted “Afro-encyclopedic fashion”—design, craft, artists, and history unique to the continent—and his determination to “immortalize” South African heritage and identity, whether worn as a dress, channeled through furnishings, or curated for an exhibition.
I’ve spent the past few days with Magugu, traveling some 5,800 miles from Paris to discover his collaboration at Mount Nelson, where the main building, in a pretty shade of blush since the end of WWI, can be spotted from the peak of Table Mountain, which we visited as the sun dipped below the Atlantic. Having won the LVMH Prize in 2019 when he was just 26, the designer gained international recognition before he had the chance to establish roots in his home country. Here in the “Mother City” as it’s known, this new entry point into his universe exists not only for travelers interested in luxury design through a South African lens, but also for locals who can experience his curatorial eye while browsing his clothes up-close.
The hotel, affectionately called “The Nellie, opened in 1899 and maintains its bygone British charm from every angle of a picturesque property that is punctuated with even more pink thanks to lush bougainvillea and hibiscus, candy-striped umbrellas and the dapper ties worn by staff. Yet if nostalgia is embraced with traditions like afternoon tea or the antique models of ocean liners with names like Windsor Castle displayed in the hallways, Magagu’s spaces recognize the cultural depth of Mount Nelson’s surroundings, and how introducing a rich range of personal narratives through design and art carries far greater meaning than the typical hospitality glow-up (although a gleaming new restaurant, Amura, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Ángel Leon checks that box). While he describes Belmond’s first-ever designer residence as “merging English grandeur with African sensuality,” he has also considered how this opportunity allows him to showcase fellow creatives whose work taps into similar explorations of ancestral and contemporary aesthetics.
“Even if you never step foot outside the suite, I think it gives you such an incredible summary of where we have been, who we are currently, and a small projection of where we are going,” he told me.
On Saturday, we took a walkthrough ahead of a lively afternoon garden party that drew family, friends, and fans—many turning up in full Magugu ensembles.
“I think this moment matters because it signals a belief in African authorship and not just proximity to that said authorship,” Magugu said to guests at the event. Between his wide, warm smile and the gold medallions emblazoned with his logo at the tip of each braid, he was projecting a gracious princely vibe.
When discussions around the project began around two years ago, what stood out from the get-go was “not just the openness from the hotel, but the courage to trust the creative voice and [to] move beyond surface level collaboration to something that has not quite existed before in this context.”
The suite and Magugu House are located in adjacent white villas along the hotel’s palm-studded avenue. A quaint wrought iron gate leads to a pathway with a small fountain—installed at Magugu’s request—where white waterlilies open and close throughout the day, the water softly gurgling.
For both spaces, his sketches and renderings for the two-story, “Afro-modernist” suite were executed by StudioLandt based in Cape Town. He took the foundational trifecta of materials, forms, and colors, and developed them with as much contextual resonance as possible. Inside, the ambiance is at once grounding, sophisticated, and a touch playful, as terrazzo in an atypical pattern of green and brown catches the eye, while a commissioned painting by Mmangaliso Nzuza highlights the distinct and contemporary style of “Afro cubism.” Stucco walls in shades of grass and oxblood put an earthier twist on jewel tones. There’s the beautiful carved woodwork: the curving architrave, or in giant bead shapes ornamenting the four-poster bed. The custom, hand-knotted rug under the dining room table is dotted with the hoof prints of a rhebok (an antelope native to South Africa) as though it has been invited inside for dinner. Tassel fringe lining the curtains and pleating at the edges of the sofa pick up on Magugu’s fashion techniques. A light suspended above the main table alludes to a Mokorotlo, the symbolic conical hat of Lesotho culture. Magugu imagined the poetic wallpaper that plays out at each level. Illustrated by Cara Savan, one depicts two women traversing rolling hills; the other is a more abstracted landscape with a light relief that required couture-level workmanship. Several artworks are by rising talents around the same age as Magugu. Whether the small abstract diptych expressing Black resilience by Lulama Wolf, a photograph of Black peacocking by Trevor Stuurman, or the sketches of royal African queens by Lorenzo Platatjies, their next-gen energy creates an impactful counterpoint to the abundance of craft.
Across the way, the Magugu House symbol iterates on his original “sisterhood logo” of two women holding hands. Now there are three women—like the canonical three graces forming an M. “It’s signifying a conversation and that [Magugu House] is bigger than the brand and about my community and people coming into the space.
The inaugural exhibition, By Our Own Hands, presents a selection of black-and-white photographs of Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa in two rooms with walls painted vermillion red. The incredible directness of their portraits and objects struck the designer as articulations of “ritual practice” not unlike certain underlying ideas in fashion. Going forward, he envisions intimate gatherings and programming conducive to cultural exchange.
Lastly, there is the showroom, where a mix of collections are displayed on racks suspended from carved wood elements. He unfolded a new scarf design by Nelson Makamo, who converged their two figurative styles into a single image. A black bralette and skirt covered in tufts of fringed cotton echoed his white ensemble, made by his studio for the event.
“At the end of the day, he has killer taste,” confirmed Tamu MacPherson, the widely followed content creator who has been here, too. Since around 2017, she amassed “a small archive” of his pieces and has already been shopping at the Magugu House, where she picked up a kite hat and a silk shirt in the season’s statement print. “His tailoring skills are really impressive, [as are] his attention to detail and his creative and artistic vision. And so I think his universe is really complete. He’s such a gentle, precise being. And I think that when you meet him, this lures you in and you kind of understand and see his personality reflected into his artistic hand.”
This year, his namesake brand marks its 10th anniversary, and while Magugu hints that he may organize a show to celebrate the milestone, the post-Covid years have involved a different approach to his business, recalibrating everything to his own cadence. “It’s been about stepping back and thinking, ‘What can I do to build my own template instead of this one that was given to me?’ I won’t lie: I think for the first year, it was quite difficult. And I realized that maybe there was a bit of grief from, how do I say, what I thought fashion would be. But it really was one of the best decisions.”
These days, he produces one main collection per year with several capsules. More than 50% of the production takes place in South Africa; some fabrics are sourced in Japan and his fine pleating is done in Italy.
How does designing interiors compare to designing a collection? The main difference comes down to pragmatic but critical considerations around safety. “There’s the idea of creating beautiful textiles for a throw but ensuring that it is coated in fire-retardant, or creating a space that balances zen sensibility with efficient fire escape routes.” He added, “I’ve found the entire process quite exhilarating; I want to say it was more learnings than challenges, and the reward of all this is increasing my visual language and references, which makes me a better creative.”
At the party—held outdoors, the impeccable summer weather a welcome intermezzo from the damp wintery days in Paris—the turnout was a cross-section of South African creatives and customers—from designer Lukanyo Mdingi, declaring this moment “monumental,” to admirer Bawanile Lamola, who said, “Thebe has made our African culture so contemporary and recognizable—like other brands around the world—but it still has the soul of South Africa. Although he belongs to one ethnicity, his brand has all the ethnic groups. He is not making a tribalist brand. We all belong to it.”
Amidst the DJ set, designer Wanda Lephoto, like Mdingi, noted how Magugu’s peers are all probing deeper through their output and how this is what’s breaking through at home and abroad. “The African story reflects both pride and pain and it takes the pain to reflect the pride,” he said. “I think at the core, it’s a value system, and that value system is really important. For designers, it’s not necessarily just a visual product thing; it is a way of life; it’s a way of teaching, a way of also learning. I think the brands here are representing that.”
On more than one occasion through the weekend, Magugu walked audiences through his name and how it practically predestined him to where he is today. Thebe refers to a Nguni shield while his family name is close to the Amagugu, a Zulu and Xhosa word for treasures. Together, they form a kind of nominative determinism. “It’s essentially like ‘He who protects our treasures.’ And I feel like I do this through my work in fashion.”
Our trip up to the top of Table Mountain, meanwhile, was a first for Magugu who would visit the city every two months even before the Mount Nelson opportunity came along. Taking a cable car some 3,500 feet above sea level, we arrived at the summit where there are not just paths providing 360-degree views but a few nondescript bars and eateries. Immersed in cloud moisture and late-day light, there were the requisite epic photos and outbursts of awe and contemplation, too. “I would rather be here than anywhere else on the African continent—not just South Africa,” he said. “Of course, I love Nigeria and the incredible fashion moment it is having. But what’s great about Cape Town is that it’s at this intersection of local and global and that’s incredibly powerful. And we’re trying to create something that is culture but to be consumed as luxury. It strikes that balance.” With a blanket draped over the shoulders of a shirt he based on a traditional design, Magugu was giving peak contentment.
.jpeg)