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“IT’S NOT RARE TO SEE A LOCAL WOMAN WEARING A TRADITIONAL SHWESHWE-FABRIC WAXED WRAP SKIRT, PAIRED WITH A MANCHESTER UNITED POLYESTER TEE”:
WASTE, WOMENSWEAR & THE DIALECTIC DUNUSA DISTRICT
An Analysis of THEBE MAGUGU’s Spring/Summer 2023 Collection: “DISCARD THEORY”
by MAX DIALLO JAKOBSEN [2023]
“The start point of my exploration this season is an essay written by Thorstein Veblen” Magugu reveals in the opening sequence of the “DISCARD THEORY” documentary – a short 12-minute film, which traces the story of the brand’s highly anticipated Spring/Summer 2023 (SS23) collection of the same name. The essay that Magugu is referring to is Veblen’s seminal text, The Theory of the Leisure Class. Writing at the turn of the twentieth century, Veblen coined the term “conspicuous consumption" to describe the European bourgeoisie’s practice of purchasing expensive items, not for their practical utility, but for their role as markers of wealth and power. “Waste was a very critical part of Veblen’s theory because it is one of the easiest signifiers of wealth," Magugu remarks, as he unveils how waste is at the core of his upcoming collection.
In the “DISCARD THEORY” documentary, Magugu brings us with him as he travels to Dunusa in Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD). Dunusa, the isiZulu word for “bend over,” refers to an area in the CBD where people rummage through piles of discarded clothes from Europe and America. For his SS23 collection, Magugu sourced clothing from Dunusa, brought them to his studio, and “refashioned them” into luxury womenswear pieces, in the hopes of “experiment[ing] with the idea of a ‘trickle-up fashion theory’, instead of the trickled-down version discussed by Veblen.”
In this essay, I examine Magugu’s “refashioning” of discarded clothing for his SS23 collection as an ecocritical act responding to the environmental crisis of textile waste in the global fashion industry. In what ways is “DISCARD THEORY” a successful critique of the industry, and in what ways does it reproduce the same systems of consumerist behavior that Magugu questions? I argue that “DISCARD THEORY” is a nuanced intervention into this environmental crisis. The collection champions African agency and creativity, which Magugu highlights as central characteristics of Dunusa. Nevertheless, “DISCARD THEORY” remains intimately tied to the fashion industry which itself criticizes. To this end, I describe Dunusa as a “dialectic district” – it is both a symbol of an ongoing environmental crisis rooted in colonial legacies and global inequalities, but like many facets of the African experience, also a hub for local African agency and creativity. In Magugu’s words, Dunusa “acts as a nexus between the global and the locals,” between the West and Africa. In this way, I contend that “DISCARD THEORY ” is itself also dialectic insofar as it is both raising awareness of the environmental crisis of textile waste and itself a part of the industry.
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