\n\tFor fall, it wasn\u2019t so much the knitwear as the message that Maxhosa Africa\u2019s creative director Laduma Ngxokolo was interested in putting in the limelight of his Paris presentation.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe collection is about validating ourselves as African, that it is time for us to quantify our influence culturally in monetary value,\u201d he told WWD.<\/p>\n
\n\tPointing out that the continent\u2019s music industry was on track to be worth $5 billion, he said it was high time for a new era of vibrancy and contemporary relevancy, following a colonization-driven derailing of many of its cultures.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe evolved our own culture as a means of showcasing to the rest of the world that our artifacts don\u2019t have to sit in museums as a cross reference to where we come from, [they] don\u2019t have to rot in tombs in order to serve as inspiration,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\n\tParaded in Philanthro-Lab, an incubator and coworking space for public-interest projects, the South African label\u2019s color-filled fall knitwear wardrobe was infused with Xhosa motifs but also hieroglyphics and flags from, say, Nigeria. They were applied to the relaxed polo shirts, velour track suits and dresses made of interlaced bands of knitwear that are Maxhosa\u2019s calling card.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI do [this] to showcase that we can do something that\u2019s African but still not tacky, predictable or cheap-looking,\u201d Ngxokolo said.<\/p>\n
\n\tConsumers certainly seem to agree, as the brand has now grown its retail footprint to 10 stores in South Africa and plans to spread to the neighboring countries in the short term. Abroad, after a yearlong pop-up in New York, the brand is evaluating its next moves.<\/p>\n
\n\tMeanwhile, the company is building up its production arm, with the opening of a second factory specializing in heavier knitwear, with outerwear on the radar.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For fall, it wasn\u2019t so much the knitwear as the message that Maxhosa Africa\u2019s creative director Laduma Ngxokolo was interested in putting in the limelight of his Paris presentation. \u201cThe collection is about validating ourselves as African, that it is time for us to quantify our influence culturally in monetary value,\u201d he told WWD. Pointing out that the continent\u2019s music industry was on track to be worth $5 billion, he said it was high time for a new era of vibrancy and contemporary relevancy, following a colonization-driven derailing of many of its cultures. \u201cWe evolved our own culture as a means of showcasing to the rest of the world that our artifacts don\u2019t have to sit in museums as a cross reference to where we come from, [they] don\u2019t have to rot in tombs in order to serve as inspiration,\u201d he said. Paraded in Philanthro-Lab, an incubator and coworking space for public-interest projects, the South African label\u2019s color-filled fall knitwear wardrobe was infused with Xhosa motifs but also hieroglyphics and flags from, say, Nigeria. They were applied to the relaxed polo shirts, velour track suits and dresses made of interlaced bands of knitwear that are Maxhosa\u2019s calling card. \u201cI do [this] to showcase that we can do something that\u2019s African but still not tacky, predictable or cheap-looking,\u201d Ngxokolo said. Consumers certainly seem to agree, as the brand has now grown its retail footprint to 10 stores in South Africa and plans to spread to the neighboring countries in the short term. Abroad, after a yearlong pop-up in New York, the brand is evaluating its next moves. Meanwhile, the company is building up its production arm, with the opening of a second factory specializing in heavier knitwear, with outerwear on the radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}