Stylish stories of Heritage on Long

Our story starts in bustling Long Street, home to a number of restaurants, galleries and cultural points of interest. Merchants on Long is a carefully curated concept store selling only the best in African fashion and design. They stock high-end luxury goods from designers all across Africa and make use of strict ethical and sustainability criteria when deciding on who to stock.

I’m meeting up with their primary buyer, Sumendra Chetty, who is a well-versed expert in the global fashion and design industry.

Liza: Sumendra, I know we both share a common love and passion for local creativity and sustainable fashion. But walk our viewers through why we can be so excited about the South African design scene.

Sumendra: Leez, I think there’s something’s special about the story telling that South African designers do. Be that through their cultural heritage and craftsmanship that’s been passed on through generations.

🔎 For example, the Thebe Magugu heritage dress collection which showcases a wide reach of South African culture that we can all appreciate and enjoy.

Sumendra and I then headed downstairs, where she showed me the full Thebe Magugu Lobola Heritage Collection. The different printed artworks on every dress in the collection shine light on the wide variety of native ethnic groups in South Africa — all of whom follow their own version of the centuries-old Lobola tradition: a pre-wedding ritual and celebration.

The one we selected for me to try on is the Ndebele Lobola Dress, in celebration of the Ndebele people.

🖥️ Join our virtual exploration of Merchants on long in our beginners guide to the City Centre: Part Two on Youtube.

Thebe Magugu

Thebe Magugu is an internationally acclaimed South African fashion designer, originally from Kimberley in the Northern Cape. A graduate of LISOF in Johannesburg, Magugu’s work is known for its intellectual depth and commitment to cultural storytelling.

His Heritage Dress Collection, launched in 2021, features a series of garments that honour various South African ethnolinguistic groups by visually interpreting their Lobola customs. These dresses were developed in collaboration with female illustrators and artists from the communities being represented, with each dress featuring an emblematic artwork printed onto the fabric. The collection was both a celebration of African womanhood and a visual archive of cultural knowledge — showcasing the diversity of South African identity through fashion.

In 2019, Thebe Magugu became the first African designer to win the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, further amplifying his role as a cultural ambassador on the global stage.

The Ndebele People of South Africa

The Southern Ndebele are one of South Africa’s many cultural groups, primarily located in the Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces. They are known for their vibrant geometric house murals, beadwork, and distinctive visual language.

Traditionally, Ndebele women are responsible for painting the exterior of family homes using bold lines and colourful patterns, often symbolising personal prayers, emotions, or significant life events such as weddings. These artworks are passed down through generations and have become a unique identifier of Ndebele culture.

Ndebele people maintain strong traditions around marriage, kinship, and ceremonial life. Lobola plays a central role in uniting families and is seen as a way to affirm respect, commitment, and shared heritage.

Esther Mahlangu

Dr Esther Mahlangu, born in 1935, is a globally celebrated Ndebele artist known for transforming the traditional art of her community into a contemporary international language. She was trained in mural painting from the age of 10 and later became the first person to adapt Ndebele painting onto non-traditional media such as canvas, sculpture, automobiles, and airplanes.

In 1991, Mahlangu gained international acclaim when she was commissioned by BMW to create a uniquely Ndebele design for the brand’s 12th Art Car — making her the first woman and the first African artist to do so. She has since exhibited at major institutions including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the British Museum (London), and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.).

Despite her global recognition, Mahlangu continues to live in her home village of Mabhoko (near Siyabuswa), where she runs a school that teaches young girls the techniques and meanings behind Ndebele painting, preserving the tradition for future generations.

‍

‍

Closing Thought

Even the simplest interactions while shopping in Cape Town’s city centre offer us opportunities for cultural deep dives into the rich heritage storylines that shape and make our country what it is today.

‍