Luxury has a reputation for being serious. Precious stones, exclusivity, lofty price tags. But step into the world of The Luxurious Marble Circus (LMC) and TSHEPO Jeans and luxury feels like it might just have a cheeky grin on its face.
The food and music festival, set for October 4-5 at GROUND in Muldersdrift, recently announced its collaboration with the iconic local denim brand as part of its Legacy Initiative, which explores how the festival can make a difference beyond spectacle.
For 2025, LMC and TSHEPO Jeans unveiled The Kingmaster Collection, a playful array of pieces that stands as a sartorial balancing act between circus whimsy and denim discipline.
But the collaboration had a purpose beyond fashion. The two brands chose an emerging designer to develop the collection, offering her the chance to work closely with the TSHEPO team and to debut her vision on a national stage.
Enter Naledi Dlamini, a young designer whose own journey mirrors the themes of reinvention and daring at the heart of the collection.
For Dlamini, the opportunity came just months after graduating from Fedisa Fashion College. She had already made an impression with her final-year collection, a confident mix of Zulu heritage, hip-hop references and sharp tailoring. That work caught the attention of TSHEPO founder Tshepo Mohlala, who proposed the young designer as a potential candidate.
“I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but I was like, ‘I’m there,’” she said, laughing as we sat around a table in Victoria Yards. What followed was a crash course in turning concept into collection, balancing her own vision with the DNA of two established brands.
The brief was simple in theory but complex in practice: combine TSHEPO’s signature denim and sense of structure with LMC’s playful, circus-inspired identity. Dlamini avoided literal costume references, instead translating the idea into form and detail. A dress echoed the silhouette of a circus tent, pinstripes shifted into diamond shapes and her research into the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival (Kaapse Klopse), added a distinctly South African rhythm.
For her, the designs were never just about surface spectacle. “I wanted people to look at the pieces and think, ‘I need that,’ not because of the label or the price, but because of how it made them feel,” she explained. To Dlamini, true luxury is not intimidating but affirming, clothes that give the wearer confidence, ease and a sense of belonging.
Designing the collection also meant confronting the realities of the industry. As a student, she had been used to working on each garment herself but here, she had to learn to hand over parts of the process, navigating deadlines and production schedules that moved at a different pace. “Deadlines are deadlines,” she said with a wry smile. “I constantly found myself overthinking, but I had to keep reassuring myself that I could get through it.”
The challenges sharpened her focus on why she was designing in the first place. Raised in a Zulu household where ubuntu, the principle of community, was central, she sees fashion not only as an outlet for creativity but as a way of building space for others. “Through this collection, I want to create a community. I want it to become a holistic space to find yourself.”
That vision felt especially important in an industry where opportunities for young designers are scarce, particularly for those unwilling to sacrifice creativity for roles in retail or mass production. “It was overwhelming, especially fresh out of school,” she admitted.
The payoff came when the collection finally came together at the campaign photo shoot, the room buzzing with energy. “Sometimes you forget to pat yourself on the shoulder, because you’re already onto the next thing. But seeing everyone so happy, it felt amazing,” she said.
In many ways, the collection is about more than circus whimsy or denim heritage. It reflects the early steps of a designer finding her voice, testing her ideas, and discovering the balance between discipline and imagination. For Dlamini, it was also proof that luxury could be playful without losing its edge, and that her own perspective, rooted in heritage and community, had a place in the conversation.
Looking back, she described the process as growth. “I’m hard on myself, but I try to acknowledge that I’ve learnt, that I’ve pushed. And to me, that’s the legacy, inspiring the younger version of myself, and showing her that she can do this.”
For Dlamini, the collaboration was not just an opportunity but a moment of clarity: proof that even in an industry known for its pressures, there was room for whimsy, room for heritage, and room for a young designer determined to make her mark.
The Luxurious Marble Circus runs October 4–5 at GROUND in Muldersdrift. The Kingmaster Collection will be available at The Emporium, in TSHEPO stores (Hyde Park and Sandton City), and online at tshepo.shop
