Magugu, was tasked by Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri to reinterpret anew the New Look, all in aid of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, a charity that aids South African youth.
But for their collaborative project they changed the cut, employing a pattern Magugu developed involving two rounded shapes, the pleated tulle then joined at the waist and jutting out. “I think it’s a really nice balance between my own aesthetic and details that I love and Maria’s as well,” he said.
“I am quite interested in this combination of the Bar jacket, skirt and hat and its trajectory in the house of Dior: it is like a design project that each creative director who has succeeded Christian Dior has worked on,” she continued. “You can see this in the archives and with each new version a personal vision of femininity embodied in the craft techniques.”
The Johannesburg-based designer first encountered Chiuri when he was a finalist, and ultimately the winner, of the 2019 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. He recalled being very nervous presenting his designs in front of a jury stacked with famous creative directors from the French luxury group.
To wit: When the final prototypes of the Diorcapsule collection arrived in Magugu’s Johannesburg studios he laid them out on a table and summoned his entire team, including machinists and cutters. “The result is an outfit demonstrating the variety of skilled artisanal techniques around the world. It resonates with this global understanding of fashion craftsmanship that I am very attached to,” she said.