Last spring, when the designer was loved Albert Elbaz sudden death from COVID-19 shortly after the introduction of the AZ Factory label, the fashion world first mourned, then wondered what would happen to his new company, backed by luxury conglomerate Richemont. How can it continue without him?
One answer was given earlier this year: Recruit a bunch of “amigo” designers to implement the defined spirit of experimentation and self-care Factory AZ, embody that spirit as they see fit: in clothing, but also in objects, installations, whatever. And the first will be Thebe Magugu, a 28-year-old South African designer, founder of the eponymous label and 2019 winner. LVMH Awards for emerging talent.
This month, Magugu revealed his collection to AZ Factory, which will go on sale in two sales in June and September. Here he reveals how it happened. and what it means to put on the mantle of Elbaz.
Q: How did your partnership with AZ Factory go? Do you know Albert?
A: I’ve never met him, but when we first got satellite TV, I used to watch his fashion shows. Then, last year, I received an email from Alex Koo, Alber partner, saying that he and the AZ Factory team are planning this. memorial program, “Love begets love” and they invited some 44 brands to pay their respects to Alber. He asked me to join, and I said, “Of course.”
It was a beautiful show, seeing what Alber had looked like over the years. Two or three months passed, and I received another email from AZ telling me about the company’s strategy going forward, that the company would invite advertisements for fashion, photography, you have stars, to work with the brand, and I really want to do that. I wanted to tease my connection to Alber, especially the fact that we’re both from the continent: he’s from Morocco and I’m from South Africa.
AZ Factory with Thebe Magugu (Source: The New York Times)
That is the starting point of the collection. And the question I asked was: What if Africa was the birthplace of fashion?
Q: What if?
A: Well, first and foremost, the values of fashion in the Northern Hemisphere relate to telling stories – this idea of many working hands and knowledge can be passed down from generation to generation. And those are really the values we have in Africa for the African defence.
Q: So how did you connect these two?
A: I started researching a lot of shadows and merging them with my own. Before his death, Alber worked on several prints with an Algerian printer named Chafik Cheriet. A lot of them are animal prints but quite abstract, and I was immediately hooked. It’s almost as if this collection completes an unprecedented collection. One of my favorites is this red exploding meerkat.
Albert has also worked with Body Consciousness and solution-oriented knitwear, so I took that and sewed a pure white dress with these bell sleeves that reminded me of a bride, who in my language, Zulu, we called makoti. It pays homage to that, but has a cutout on the chest that has our stainless steel sisterhood symbol on it. And then that little bag involved the African gel, the hats, which I discovered.
Q: You also included the look you did for the performance “Love Brings Love”, right, which is now part of the exhibition at the Palais Galliera?
A: Yes, we felt it was important that we re-introduce this interface and make it available to everyone because it was originally a one-time only and now Museum. It’s reminiscent of Alber’s Guy Laroche period, a dress and halter top but dyed dipped. We had a funny joke in the studio that it looked like it hit a giant squid.
We also did a lot of l’oeil, like short skirt It looks like a crease but is just a flat piece of fabric with printed grooves and impressions of the pleats. Even the belt is a fake.
Q: However, this feels like a partnership to me. What makes it different?
A: The word collaboration, especially now, implies a powerful dynamic. But here, there is no succinct imposition. And what made it quite special was that I had to leave the project with quite a few resources, especially technical resources. A lot of times, design studio AZ has done things that I technically don’t know how to do. And they put me in contact with certain suppliers and manufacturers. That makes it more like an incubator in a way.
Designer Thebe Magugu in Florence (Source: The New York Times)
Q: What else have you learned from this experience?
A: I was really impressed by the kindness and obligation to others that Alber had. It is not common in fashion. Somewhere in our history, the idea of kindness began to be associated with weakness or indecision. But people like Alber, as well as Virgil Abloh and a few others I’ve interacted with, operate out of that inherent kindness, even at the heights they reach. They still retain that soul and humanity. I think kindness will take you pretty far. I really believe deeply in journalism. What you spend will come back.
Q: Does this make you want to be a bigger brand?
A: I think what I’m building with my brand is pretty special and has ramifications far beyond me as an individual. I really like what I do and what I’m creating. But I will say, I am an insomniac. I don’t sleep. So I can do one brand during the day and one at night. I can do all.
(This article originally appeared in The New York Times.)
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