VASALYA MOODLEY
The New York Fashion Week (NYFW) showcases visionary designers’ inspired collections as stamps in the fashion industry. This celebration of fashion has exhibited the works of fashion frontliners such as Diane von Fürstenberg and Marc Jacobs. This year’s events spanned five days, while adhering to new social distancing and protective measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of these protocols, virtual fashion shows were used to display the lines of the designers that were to be featured at NYFW. Port Elizabeth-born Laduma Ngxokolo, and his label MAXHOSA AFRICA presented their designer clothes to the world in one of these virtual shows.
MAXHOSA AFRICA was founded in 2010 as part of a thesis project. This line was to create clothing representative of Xhosa culture. Ngxokolo has described his label as “an alternative option that was cultural yet modern”, in reference to a right of passage of young Xhosa men in which a new wardrobe is acquired in celebration of his manhood. Now, Ngxokolo’s creative mind showcases this fresh take on Xhosa dress and prints at one of fashion’s most glamorous events.
Ngxokolo’s colourful new line was showcased on 16 September, and featured a variety of new fabrics and prints in sportswear-esque clothing for men and women. He titled the theme of the collection after his late grandfather’s song, Ingumangaliso Imisebenzi KaThixo, which translates to God’s work is so wonderful that we don’t even acknowledge how powerful it is. The goal of this vibrant collection, Ngxokolo says, was to provide a sense of hope and happiness in the midst of a sad, uncertain time in our history. It is also important to him that he shares his Xhosa roots with the world on the platform he has earned.
“MAXHOSA AFRICA was founded in 2010 as part of a thesis project“
Models strutted down the runway in playful prints and, quirkily, clutching Tastic Rice Bags as accessory bags. Spearheads of South Africa’s entertainment scene were featured in this online show. After an introduction by musician Unathi Nkayi, Ngxokolo’s runway featured many celebrity models such as Riky Rick and Maps Maponyane.
International recognition is not new to Ngxokolo. In celebration of the 2019 remake of The Lion King, MAXHOSA AFRICA was featured in the sixth round of Style Kingdom, a rotating pop-up affiliated with New York Bloomingdales. In 2020, British Vogue magazine named him one of seven must-see African brands. His clothing was also featured in Beyonce’s Black Is King visual album. On the more local front, MAXHOSA AFRICA has a new store in Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront’s luxury wing, alongside stores of internationally acclaimed brands such as Gucci and Versace.
Through MAXHOSA AFRICA, Laduma Ngxokolo has merged the modern and traditional – creating clothing for the modern man and woman while incorporating the rich Xhosa tradition into each piece. His artistry and vision has gained him the local and international success that he can broadly boast today, more recently on the New York Fashion.
