At a time when brands, designers and makers from all over are voicing a need to return to the roots of their craft, MaXhosa, the only Africa-based brand on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar, finds itself sitting right at the heart of the conversation.
MaXhosa has been striving for cultural representation on the international fashion stage for 15 years now. A knitwear engineer by training, founder and designer Laduma Ngxokolo said that his mission, not unlike that of many a storied French legacy brand, is to leverage heritage and craft into a modern clothing proposition. “MaXhosa is a cultural brand, so the techniques we choose are our way of expressing that,” the designer said backstage before the show.
The presentation counted over 30 looks that included cascades of colorful ruffles, a new development informed by beadwork, perhaps paired with graphic jackets embellished using a pulled thread technique. The collection’s title, Izipho Zabadala, or Gifts for the Ancestors, was intended as a gesture of gratitude, Ngxokolo said, as “a gift that celebrates culture,” from the clothes to loop-fringed belts, sculptural hairstyles and a burgeoning accessories line.
Most cultures in Africa are very colorful, and beadwork motifs are integral to self-expression. Here and there, the designer added distressed and “glitch” effect, but what he brought to Paris is just a sampling of what he would like to bring to a full-fledged runway presentation someday. In his stores in South Africa, as in the one inaugurated last year in New York, clothes in vibrant colors such as these are displayed alongside more monochrome variations. Increasingly, pieces are produced to be modular—skirts can be tied to a top (or not), sleeves can be detached, a dress might be made up of five separable pieces—letting the wearer adapt them to an existing wardrobe, the designer explained.
“African culture is a universal language,” Ngxokolo said. “We’re trying to get a signature out there that is distinctive and unique and truly represents South Africa. Our community understands it. I want to bring that culture to the table.”