EXCLUSIVE: Dior teams up with Thebe Magugu for a charity project

When Thebe Magugu was a fashion student in Johannesburg, he didn't know that a sophomore assignment would turn out to be a dress rehearsal for one of the most high-profile and worthwhile collaborations of his career so far.

LISOF fashion school students were tasked with interpreting Christian Dior's New Look , the pinched-waist fan-skirted look that caused a stir in 1947. Magugu fashioned her jacket in red, with "very small rounded shoulders" and many darts, and the skirt a swirling, circular style. /p>

Fast-forward and Magugu, now 29, was charged by Maria Grazia Chiuri of Dior to reinterpret the New Look again, all for the benefit of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, a charity that helps South African youth.

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"It's like I finished my homework eight years ago", a- he said laughing.

Limited-edition capsule collection drops October 27 at Dior flagship boutiques in Paris, France ; New York and Los Angeles, California. At the same time, Dior made a lump sum donation to the CTAOP, created in 2007 by Theron, brand ambassador and historic muse of the J'Adore perfume.

Certainly, Dior's fashion heritage has reverberated to the depths of the African continent.

"I come from a small mining town called Kimberly, a place that is sometimes completely ignored on some Plans. But even there, people know Christian Dior very well,” Magugu said in an interview. “It kind of revolutionized the way women dress.”

Magugu has reinvented the characteristic New Look fitted jacket into a cotton T-shirt, with suspenders emerging from inseams that allow the wearer to accentuate the waist to varying degrees.

He explained that the T-shirt is a "universally understood item", here in front of a graphic depicting two women holding hands. This "powerful symbol of brotherhood" is a key emblem of the Magagu brand, and a reflection of the feminist theme that Chiuri has woven into her tenure as artistic director of the haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections for Dior women.

The flared skirt, meanwhile, is "a beautiful association between my universe and the universe of Maria,” he said. "At Dior, I always loved when she did rounded skirts. I looked at those things for ages."

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