WANDA LEPHOTO *Fabric As Archive

WANDA LEPHOTO
*Fabric As Archive

written + interview ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Wanda Lephoto builds narratives in fabric. His work is a continuum of history, community, and identity, shaped by memory and lived experience. Fashion carries weight, holds space, and restores what has been lost.

His Johannesburg-based label moves through cultural currents, weaving together ancestral knowledge and contemporary expression. Each piece exists with intention, shaped by deep research and a commitment to craft. Materials tell stories. Silhouettes hold memory.

Threads connect past, present, and future. Recognition follows, but the purpose remains. Lephoto’s approach prioritizes ethical production, local artisanship, and material integrity. He moves with purpose. Each stitch marks a place in time. Each piece speaks beyond the surface. Each collection expands the conversation.

trench coat NTWANA
shirt + pants WANDA LEPHOTO
shoes MAISON MARGIELA

photographer THANDO NXUMALO
stylist PEYTON JOE BASSON
talent and designer WANDA LEPHOTO
photo assistant BONOLO TLHOLOE
stylist assistant AYANDA KANISE

follow designer @wandalephot

“I design for a person I envision—someone who doesn’t yet exist in the ways I’ve seen.”

Wanda Lephoto speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE Ephemeral Edition - SS 2025 Nr. 38

total looks WANDA LEPHOTO

Alban E. Smajli
What does fashion allow you to say that words can’t?

Wanda Lephoto
I think fashion allows me to express my love and gratitude toward a people, a culture, and a history in a deep and meaningful way—something words, especially English words, often fail to convey.

South Africa, 2025. What does the landscape of fashion look like to you—raw, evolving, defined, or still untamed?

Oftentimes, it feels as though things are improving, with increasing visibility for designers striving to push boundaries in a complex country like South Africa, where much unlearning still needs to happen. I would say South Africa’s landscape embodies all the words you mentioned—raw, evolving, defined, yet still untamed—due to our complex history, which requires careful navigation. Over the past decade, we’ve seen tremendousgrowth. The next ten years will be pivotal in shaping the future of fashion—not just for our country but for the entire continent.

Your work moves between tradition and now. Do you see yourself as a translator, a disruptor, or something else entirely?

To honor, in the best way I can, those who came before me, fought, and shaped the context in which I now exist is fundamental to what we do. I am because we are—a philosophy rooted in our continent's teachings, emphasizing the human spirit and the essential role of each person in shaping and developing new ideas. This belief is dear to my heart, making the honoring of tradition pivotal to our creative process. Neither translator nor disruptor. I see myself as someone who fosters plurality—bringing together communities, conversations, cultures, and traditions in diverse spaces to create propositions for newness. It’s about shaping a different way of seeing and being, but even more, a different way of believing.

What’s the hardest truth about building a fashion label in Africa that no one talks about?

It’s a lonely feeling. The hardest part, for me, is that when we win, we win together—but when we lose, I lose alone. That can feel isolating. The financial setbacks. The emotional, mental, and spiritual weight of carrying it all alone. The responsibility of dreams—not just your own, but those of so many who rely on you.

Who do you design for—the person who wears your clothes or the culture that shapes them?

I design for a person I envision—someone who doesn’t yet exist in the ways I’ve seen. I design for the culture and community that believes in me—whose stories are often neglected but deserve to be seen and celebrated.

I design for those who shape culture alongside me—who, like me, believe in the individuality of our journeys yet the shared responsibility of dreams. I design for those who are no longer with us, but whose memories and stories live on—as a way of ensuring they are never forgotten.

I design for future generations who will inherit, through spirit, the importance of our collective work in shaping history—understanding that for us, it’s more than just clothing.

total look WANDA LEPHOTO
shoes DR MARTENS

What fuels your process—memory, instinct, resistance?

My process at this point in my design journey is hugely fueled by memory and resistance. I believe in honoring where we come from, because there is a lot of healing that needs to happen in the works we create —works that begin to fill the void of the missing archives we have lost. In the future, I know this will evolve. But for now, this remains the cornerstone of our work—restoring pride and memory of where we come from. The sentiment being: from the dusty concrete, a flower can bloom.

If you stripped everything away—labels, industry, expectations—what remains at the core of what you do?

The stories.

Africa has always dictated global culture, whether the world acknowledges it or not. Where do you see its biggest creative shift happening right now?

Africa is the heartbeat of fashion. Right now, I’m fascinated by the cultural fusion happening with high-low fashion, real/fake fashion, and western/traditional styles. The mixing of colonial dress with traditional dress.

The blending of thrifted dupes from Europe with real high-end fashion—which, in many ways, is a metaphor for how western fashion has become destructive to itself. All of this exists alongside the growing pride in wearing African fashion brands—brands that celebrate craftsmanship and culture through design.

Ephemeral. Fleeting. Unstable. How does that word sit with you? Is fashion ever meant to last?

Fashion is meant to last forever—not just as clothing, but as a feeling, a memory of a time that meant everything to us.

If clothing could dissolve at the end of the day, leaving only its impact, what would yours leave behind?

I think my clothes would leave behind the stories of a people, a group, a community—and, hopefully, a continent. Though history sometimes makes us feel as though we should be ashamed, the stories we carry are far more beautiful than any hardship we have endured.

We have true culture and community. We have true design and philosophy—something beyond mere aesthetics or financial trends, something that defines who we are.