SAFW AW23 COLLECTIONS | GUGUBYGUGU

GUGUBYGUGU is a South African fashion brand based in the friendly city of Gqeberha. Gugu Peteni studied fashion and textile design at the Nelson Mandela University, where she graduated Cum Laude with honours, in 2017. Post-graduate, she worked as the in-house designer and retail manager for Mohair SA for three years, and in the process started her own fashion brand GUGUBYGUGU. The brand was established in 2019 and is the epitome of their generation; unapologetic, bold, genderless, and experiments with natural knits such as mohair and various textiles. The English translation for ‘GUGU’ is ‘to be proud of’, and she is working towards a legacy brand that thrives in a global competitive space. Inspired by and born in the 90’s, her aim is to bring a fresh look at streetwear by adding an Afri-modern element to it. Her numerous achievements include being selected as one of the top 40 South African emerging creatives class of 2018, for Design Indaba, one of the top 25 young South African creatives to watch out for, and as one of the 12 contestants on the first season of the TV series Project Runway South Africa, where she was the youngest competitor. She was a finalist in the 2020 SA Fashion Week Scouting Menswear Competition and, in 2021, spent three months learning the operations of the clothing manufacturing business, specializing in knitting. was one of three designers to represent South Africa at the biggest fashion platform in Africa, Lagos Fashion Week. The versatile bran