Magugu House opens its doors in leafy Dunkeld

Welcome to Magugu House.   

Blending inconspicuously in Johannesburg north, perfectly nestled between Rosebank, Melrose and Hyde Park is the leafy suburb of Dunkeld. The apex and affluent locale that bristle with modern homes has just welcomed a new resident at 52 Bompas Road.

His name is Thebe Magugu – the sought-after fashion designer who has dressed everyone from Lupita Nyong'o to Burna Boy, Grace Jones, Issa Rae, Halle Bailey, Golda Rosheuvel, Tessa Thompson and Thuso Mbedu. 

Housing workspaces, showroom, art gallery and boutique, the white double-storey complex is where the Magugu magic happens.

On a scorching Saturday morning, Magugu officially welcomes to his castle an intimate guest-list including SMag, Maps Maponyane, Mpumi "Mrs Mops" Mophatlane, Nunu Ntshingila-Njeke, Sthandiwe Kgoroge, Judi Nwokedi, Mandla Sibeko and Zulu Mkhathini.

In the garden area, champagne brunch is the order of the day with Moët served fresh and chilled.

“As the brand grows, people want more access to it and up until now the brand has only either been available in retailers outside SA or online where we have very limited runs on the collection,”  Magugu says.

One of the many ambitions of Magugu House is to rekindle the forgone and beloved fashion practice of in-person fittings. “As the brand grows and evolves, we needed a place where they can sit and try on clothing and actually do the fittings there,” adds Magugu.  

“I’m glad I’m doing this now. Looking at all these ladies coming in, staring at themselves in the mirror for a long time and holding up others. I love that it's a real life experience of fashion. 

“Someone putting on something and then asking one of the ladies what they think. It’s a type of therapy in a way and I’m just glad I could give people a physical iteration of what Thebe Magugu is and not just something online.”  

The charming classic farmhouse renovated building with a distinct red door was completed in just under two months.

Among the exhibitions is a towering mannequin dressed in the designer swap garment between Magugu and Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino couture – a short description of the collaboration next to the display puts everything into context.   

In the next room are portraits of the third instalment from his Heritage collection, titled Lobola Negotiations. Framed images of all the muses in the campaign including John Kani, Anele Mdoda, Nomzamo Mbatha, Ama Qamata, Tresor and Zoë Modiga hang on its red sand walls. 

Navigating the narrow warm avocado interiors, one gets to take in the full body of Magugu accomplishments. The solo family portrait inspired lounge chair sits in one corner of the room and hanging in the visitors waiting room sits a one-of-a-kind Nelson Makamo piece.  

Magugu’s re-interpretation of the Dior Book Tote with his signature sisterhood emblem, part of a capsule collection with the French luxury house, sits as a showpiece outside the studio.  

“The showroom space is on the ground floor, [plus] the art gallery and upstairs are all our offices. Back there is our production where things get seen and then there is storage as well. We moved everything to Dunkeld.”

Two months ago, Magugu and his team ran their operations from art-deco building Ellis House in Bertrams in downtown Johannesburg. Ellis House was his first industrial studio.  “I remember when I started, it was just me and my machinist,” Magugu says.

“Of course, we outgrew it but Ellis Park felt industrial and was where we worked. It wasn’t where people got to experience the brand.  

“I would discourage people from coming there because it's not customer facing in any way. It was simply us going to work... sewing, production and sending out." 

The new space will serve as a creative and business hub offering hiring services and hosting activations. Magugu is especially looking forward to hosting his fashion show in September.  

“I’m so glad it's finally happening. It feels like an end and a beginning in many ways. End in that what I had envisioned the brand, the space is becoming something that will be the start of the next chapter of the brand," he says.

“I feel lots of emotions. When I started the brand in 2016, it was quite Afro-encyclopaedic, looking at key histories, peoples and culture in all my collections are within an academic framework. This almost feels like the first campus of that said university."