For fall, it wasn’t so much the knitwear as the message that Maxhosa Africa’s creative director Laduma Ngxokolo was interested in putting in the limelight of his Paris presentation.
“The collection is about validating ourselves as African, that it is time for us to quantify our influence culturally in monetary value,” he told WWD.
Pointing out that the continent’s music industry was on track to be worth $5 billion, he said it was high time for a new era of vibrancy and contemporary relevancy, following a colonization-driven derailing of many of its cultures.
“We evolved our own culture as a means of showcasing to the rest of the world that our artifacts don’t have to sit in museums as a cross reference to where we come from, [they] don’t have to rot in tombs in order to serve as inspiration,” he said.
Paraded in Philanthro-Lab, an incubator and coworking space for public-interest projects, the South African label’s color-filled fall knitwear wardrobe was infused with Xhosa motifs but also hieroglyphics and flags from, say, Nigeria. They were applied to the relaxed polo shirts, velour track suits and dresses made of interlaced bands of knitwear that are Maxhosa’s calling card.
“I do [this] to showcase that we can do something that’s African but still not tacky, predictable or cheap-looking,” Ngxokolo said.
Consumers certainly seem to agree, as the brand has now grown its retail footprint to 10 stores in South Africa and plans to spread to the neighboring countries in the short term. Abroad, after a yearlong pop-up in New York, the brand is evaluating its next moves.
Meanwhile, the company is building up its production arm, with the opening of a second factory specializing in heavier knitwear, with outerwear on the radar.
