WeeklySA_AdminCOUTURE: Young South African designer Gugu Peteni, fresh from winning an award at Paris Haute Couture Week in June, sets her sights on scaling new fashion heights internationally…
By Primarashni Gower
“It’s so surreal! Amazing! As designers we all dream of being in a luxury fashion space, in Paris, so this was a dream come true,” said South African fashion designer Gugu Peteni on her return from France recently.
The 29-year-old Nelson Mandela University Fashion and Textile Design graduate created a buzz at the Paris Haute Couture Week when she bagged the Best Young Designer Award at a ceremony held in the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum on June 26.
Peteni, one of four African designers invited to present their collection by the Africa Fashion Up (AFUP) at the event, showed off her brand Gugubygugu spring summer wear. The four were drawn from AFUP’s 2024 competition which attracted 200 applicants. Organised by Share Africa under the patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, the initiative aims to support emerging African designers and redefine the fashion industry. AFUP is the first major Parisian event dedicated to contemporary African fashion.
On her return, all Peteni could say to describe her French experience was… “It’s so surreal! Amazing! As designers we all dream of being a luxury fashion space, in Paris, so this was a dream come true”.
Her prize included international development support from the elite HEC Paris business school and luxury fashion line Balenciaga, as well as retail exposure through Galeries Lafayette, the biggest chain of up-market department stores in Europe.
Following the show, a pop-up store opened at Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann, where designers could sell their creations to an international clientele. Peteni spent a week in Paris and now will complete the rest of the programme online.
For the French foray, she presented the new Gugubygugu collection, Echoes of Self SS25, which integrates South African mohair and Merino wool. For this range, Peteni worked with Leo SZN Consulting, using shoes from Europa Art and jewellery from e.g.jewellery
Peteni studied fashion and textile design at the Nelson Mandela University, where she graduated Cum Laude with honours, in 2017. Thereafter, she worked as the in-house designer and retail manager for Mohair SA in Gqeberha for three years, and started her own fashion brand GUGUBYGUGU during that time in 2019.
“Mohair South Africa really opened the door for me, and sustainability became a crucial part of how I design,” she said. “I love working with mohair, once you touch and feel it you don’t really want to work with synthetics anymore.”
Along with another international award-winning South African designer Laduma Ngxokolo, Peteni learnt the intricacies of machine knitting this diamond fibre while studying at the Eastern Cape varsity’s Fashion and Textile Design School in Gqeberha. “I had the same teacher as Laduma: Retha Giliomee. She was wonderful, and she taught me all that I know of how to use knitting machines,” Peteni said.
“When I started my studies I knew nothing, only that ‘the Devil wears Prada’, and that I wanted to sit in the front row. It was quite a reality check! They really did prepare us for industry, though, as hard work was ingrained in us.”
The Eastern Cape born-and-bred designer moved to Pretoria in 2023 to be closer to the fashion industry. However, she could not get much closer to the cutting edge than showing her collection at Paris Fashion Week and rubbing shoulders with the elite of the style world.
Peteni also – literally – secured her seat at the table at an exclusive gala dinner held after the ramp showings. “There were so many famous people like actors and musicians and we [the four African designers] were seated at the same table as the sponsors and businesses,” she said.
Her compatriots were fellow South African designer Rich Mnisi, who is already an established name in the fashion industry, Mohamed Youss from Morocco, and Kadiata Diallo from Senegal and Mauritania.
“Africa Fashion UP is a really great network,” Peteni said, and she came home with business contacts and industry knowledge that otherwise would take years to gather.
“Imagine, I now know the lady who runs Paris Fashion Week by her first name!”
After graduating with honours Cum Laude, Peteni worked at Mohair South Africa in Gqeberha, and launched her own luxury streetwear label Gugubygugu in 2019.
The designer partnered with Mohair South Africa and Cape Wools SA to incorporate local natural fibres into her work, and the result is a fusion of her African heritage with a focus on sustainability.
“I learnt about the harmful causes of production and manufacturing at university, but I understood it better when I started manufacturing for my brand, and I realised that I had a responsibility,” she said.
“Working with mohair also had a big impact on my choices, because the industry is sustainable. It made me want to do better. But, I also credit my mother who raised us to be eco-conscious about food, water and recycling.”
Peteni also always knew that she wanted her line to be gender-neutral: “it’s about inclusivity – I make clothes that are stylish but comfort is key”.
She also showed a different, equally vibrant, Gugubygugu collection featuring gender-fluid knitwear at South African Fashion Week in Sandton in April. The English translation for the Xhosa word “gugu” is “to be proud of”, and no one is prouder than Mohair South Africa, where her career took off.
“We are incredibly proud of Gugu and the role she is playing in showcasing mohair internationally, promoting creativity, and elevating African fashion,” said a spokesman for Mohair South Africa. “We’re proud to see mohair enriching the Gugubygugu narrative and contributing to her well-deserved recognition with the Best Young Designer Award.”
