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Thebetsile Magugu

@thebetsilem

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Founder & Creative Director of @thebemagugu
Principal of @maguguhouse
GQOM DJ: Soft Tsotsi
Johannesburg
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We are honoured to present the first-ever Thebe Magugu Suite + Magugu House at the Belmond Mount Nelson, Cape Town - a balance of English grandeur merged with African sensuality: ā€œFor those who may not know, my name ā€˜Thebeā€™ means shield, and my surname ā€˜Maguguā€™ means treasures - together forming ā€˜he who protects our treasures.ā€™ This is what I believe I do through my work, both in fashion and now in interiors. My ambition has always been to showcase the nuance and sophistication of what it means to be African, capturing histories, peoples, and cultures at risk of being forgotten, yet immortalised through the power of cloth. It has been a great pleasure to distil all of this into space. Upon entering the suite, olive green tones and stone floors create an immediate sense of grounding. A custom artwork by Mmangaliso Nzuza anchors the space, while references to my Sotho heritage appear throughout the lounge and dining area - from hand-drawn wallpaper by Cara Saven inspired by the mountains of Lesotho to light pendants shaped like oversized Mokorotlo hats. Pleats, central to the Thebe Magugu brand, recur in upholstery, textiles, and sculptural lighting. Upstairs, works by Lorenzo Plaaitjies, Banele Khoza, Lulama Wolf, Trevor Stuurman, and Zandile Tshabalala unfold within a deepened palette of ā€˜luxury stoep red,ā€™ reflecting themes of love, resilience, and contemplation. The Thebe Magugu suite was done in collaboration with StudioLandt, who executed my vision Next door to the private suite is Magugu House (public) - our art gallery and fashion showroom. The inaugural exhibition, By Our Own Hands, curated by myself & Julia Buchanan, explores authorship, labour as creative practice, and material intelligence - featuring works by Zanele Muholi and Zizipho Poswa. This year marks 10 years of Thebe Magugu. Thank you to our community, clients, and peers. I hope these spaces offer not just beauty, but intention - shields protecting our stories, honouring labour, and holding space for culture and imagination. Photography by Inge Prinsā€ØWords by Amy Verner for Vogue Magugu House is open to the public, Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 - 18:00ā€Ø79 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town taken in Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel by @thebetsilem
374
8 months ago
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Immense gratitude for 2026 so far, my ancestral dolls been working overtime. Thank you to family and friends who have held me down. 10 Years of Thebe Magugu this year, looking forward to the next 10. T by @thebetsilem
87
8 months ago
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Iā€™m deeply honoured to share that, for the first time in its 125-year history, the Belmond Mount Nelson will unveil its first-ever designer suite ā€” the THEBE MAGUGU SUITE ā€” this coming January, a two-floor retreat tucked along the hotelā€™s iconic Palm Avenue. Right next door, Iā€™ll also be opening MAGUGU HOUSE CAPE TOWN, together forming a dedicated wing of the Mount Nelson that embodies the full Thebe Magugu universe. When I founded my brand in 2016, it was with a vision to create an Afro-encyclopaedic archive ā€” celebrating key histories, peoples, and cultures at risk of being forgotten. Now, that spirit lives not just in cloth, but in space. Fashion lives on the body, while interiors live around it ā€” yet both demand the same sensitivity to storytelling. This project has shown me how cultural memory can be woven just as powerfully into walls and furniture as into garments. Thank you to The Mount Nelson, Belmond, and LVMH for your support. To StudioLandt for designing with me, Edward and the Crayon Artel team, Southern Guild, and the brilliant artists whose works shape the space ā€” Zanele Muholi, Zizipho Poswa, Mmangaliso Nzuza, Lulama Wolf, Banele Khoza, Zandile Tshabalala, Lorenzo Plaaitjies, and Trevor Stuurman. The THEBE MAGUGU SUITE will be part of Belmondā€™s Signature Suites and Villas. Join the waiting list by contacting reservations.mnh@belmond.com. Full story exclusive on @wwd by @jdiderich Photography by @courtney__p__ #thebemagugu #maguguhouse #Belmond #MountNelson #CapeTown taken in Cape Town, South Africa by @thebetsilem
263
a year ago
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Your favourite teddybear taken in Hamptons, New York by @thebetsilem
26
24 days ago
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A New York Minute I basically held @zakesbantwini hostage at breakfast with my laptop, usb and rekordbox, begging him for this fab remix he did. He played it at Magugu House Garden Party earlier this year and I havenā€™t stopped thinking about it since. Another Edenā€™ is a nine-part photographic exhibition presented by Magugu House, bringing together queer photographers and queer subjects to consider what it means to construct a life in oneā€™s own image. šŸ“East Hamptons, New York Grindr + Belmond The Hamptons isnā€™t a real place because why is this next to the hardware store Masingita Leng tlhe? Such good works at @themuseumofmodernart - even though I just missed the Marcel Duchamp show, which I believe was the first retrospective of the artistā€™s work in the United States since 1973 Finally bought The Talented Mr.Ripley at the bookstore African Modernism, with a focus on architecture - this show is still on at MoMA (mainly central and west African outlook) Founders of the Silly Geese Association Letā€™s go back to Jan Smuts chi taken in New York, New York by @thebetsilem
44
a month ago
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Art Fair Notes: FNB Art Joburg 2026 20 works that stayed with me. Yolanda Mazwana (@yolandamazwana_art_) Still standing, 2026 Mixed media on canvas 1625 Ɨ 1425 mm Fhatuwani Mukheli (@fhatuwanimukheli) Carried by Many 2026 Oil on canvas 164cm x 164cm ā€œAnd if we must dance let it be on waterā€ Solo by Mankebe Seakgoe (@mankebeseakgoe) Lady Skollie (@ladyskollie) on this body of work says: ā€œON MY KNEES (IN A BAD WAY) explores all the ways an artist is brought to the brink. A life committed to making is filled with whimsy, obsession and a strange suspension of time. You disappear into it. Hours collapse. The world falls away. Until, without warning, life comes crashing back in. The banal. The brutal. The unavoidable.ā€ Phoka Nyokong Confrontation 2024 Oils on canvas 380cm x 247cm (Devastated that I didnā€™t get these details - calm waters against an acidic sky? stunning tension. Would kill to know more) OPEYEMI OLUKOTUN (@opeyemiolukotun) The Weight They Cannot See II, 2025 Acrylic on canvas 152 x 122 cm Obsessed - the impression of a speeding quantum taxi. The title of the work being ā€œCavalryā€ is really cherry on top. Kamva Matuis (@matuiskamva) b. 2002, Mzamomhle, South Africa CAVALRY (2026) Oil on canvas 71 Ɨ 77 cm Bianca Black (@biancablackart) The Moment Before the Dark 2026 Mixed media Themba Sibeko (@themba_maziya) We Did Say Weā€™d Make It III, 2026 Acrylic on Canvas 200 x 150 cm 78.7 x 59.1 in JUWON ADEREMI (@juwonaderemi) HOW DID I GET HERE 2025 Oil on canvas 151 x 151 cm Obsessed - so bizzare, priesthood and power station - love the juxtapositions in their work. Nathan Vuuren (@nathanvuuren) Landfill, 2026 Acrylic on canvas 91.5 Ɨ 61 cm I was told that the dead whales laying around in their imagery of JHB speak to ā€˜wasted potentialā€™ Nathan Vuuren Landfill, 2026 Acrylic on canvas 91.5 Ɨ 61 cm Kresiah Mukwazhi (@kresiahmukwazhi) b. 1992, Harare, Zimbabwe SiO2(2026) Bra straps on canvas 215.5 x 237.5 Ɨ 5 cm www.blankprojects.com Katlego C.L Twala (@kcltwala) b. 2000, Gaborone, Botswana 1 bear two women upon my back (2026) Oil on canvas 42.5 Ɨ 35.5 Ɨ 5 cm Lindokuhle Sobekwa (@lindokuhle.sobekwa) Ubuhlanti (The Enclosure) A series of o taken in Johannesburg by @thebetsilem
21
a month ago
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Virgoā€™s Groove Immense Gratitude, thank you all for your wonderful wishes BenoiĢ‚t, the Cellar Master at @moetchandon gifted me a bottle of Grand Vintage from my birth year. The girls wanted me to open it in the uber šŸ„² Photography by Capago Recommended reading: ā€œThe Mountain is Youā€ Needed to top up taken in Chouilly, Champagne-Ardenne, France by @thebetsilem
79
a month ago
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A summary of all the side quests this June/July DJing at Art Fair, and mixing Fomo into Yamnandi Into will be my forever peak First time hiking Thebe Magugu Hair (yes, I am working on it) Spiritual transcendence with @zoemodiga and @zawadiyamungu_ B and I DIDNā€™T do any florals this spring Impressing JOKO trade @chivasregalsa goes high-fashion and high-octane Mafeteng Dolls around Queen Sophie Rest In Peace to the Queen ā¤ļø So beautiful @luke_____radloff I donā€™t think you guys understand - my fave song, live šŸ„¹ Dankieā€¦Dankieā€¦Dankie Boiā€¦Dankie Boi Boiler Room with my loves all in one frame Chomee My favourite artwork Would rather do a Jerry Curl Thebe Magugu x Mary Sibande Smiling through the existential pain šŸ«¶šŸ¾ by @thebetsilem
72
3 months ago
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My father has roots in Malawi, so for look 13 from the ā€˜Reparationsā€™ collection, I wanted to create a skirt that, when fanned out, reveals an idyllic scene, perhaps somewhere in Bluntyre, of 3 women walking down a long winding road, as both companions for one another but individual totem-poles as well, with the various objects they balance on themselves. Another look was a silk set inspired by the topography of Lake Malawi Photography: Thulani Kubeka (@thulanikubeka)Ā  MUA: Annice Roux (@annicemakeup)Ā  Muse: Syntiche (@syntiche_kabuya) by @thebetsilem
38
4 months ago
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Presenting our 2nd August digital cover featuring @thebetsilem in collaboration with @chivasregalsa. Award-winning designer Thebe Magugu has built a global reputation for creating fashion that celebrates African storytelling through contemporary design. Now, in partnership with Chivas Regal, he brings that vision to a limited-edition collaboration that blends craftsmanship, culture and creativity. GQ caught up with Magugu to discuss the inspiration behind the collection, and how he continues to shape conversations around African fashion on the global stage. Read the full interview on gq.co.za *Not for persons under the age of 18. Drink responsibly* by @thebetsilem
45
2 months ago
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Iā€™ve been so interested in this idea of ā€˜carnal beautyā€™, & thinking a lot about meat-eating plants - which is a stunning oxymoron, because Iā€™ve always thought of flowers as passive beauty, not something that can be predatory. In recent developmental samples Iā€™ve been exploring, I created this ensemble that illustrates on the skirt the Drosera Rotundifolia (AKA The Round-Leaved Sundew), which excretes on its tips a sugary substance that insects are attracted to, & once they land and suck this substance, the leaves curl around this prey & essentially digests this prey though enzyme breakdown. We pleated the skirt section first, then applied the Sundew Plant print, so that it itself breaks apart when the garment is in motion. Colourways are High Risk Red [18-1763 TPG] & Lemon Grass [12-0626 TPG] Anyway, here are some developmental stages Thebe x by @thebetsilem
83
7 months ago
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The first-ever Sonic Assembly - a roving Magugu House social - took place last week, bringing together community, curiosity and rhythm to La Trip, Cape Town. Thank you to everyone who came, danced & chatted away in corners to make the night what it was. Our iconic DJ line-up included Kwele, Shakes, Guvenchy, Chaxlie , Thebe Magugu & Surreal Sessions The response was overwhelming, so we may just have to treat you to the next one sooner than expected. Date to be revealed soon. Thank you to our drinks partner, Chivas (@chivasregalsa). Media by Imbewu Africa(@imbewuafrica) , with photography by Awonke Moko (@awonkemoko) &Ā Unfiltered LenssĀ (@unfilteredlenss) taken in Cape Town, South Africa by @thebetsilem
30
3 months ago
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