Luju 2024 Fashion is All About You!

31 July 2024

The Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival is Eswatini’s not-to-be-missed food and fashion event of the year, with another dazzling display of high-end fashion from the region’s top designers and festivalgoers alike.

The Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival is an annual two-day regional showcase of culinary exploits, future-forward fashion, fine music, and wholesome entertainment.

Inspired by the festival ethos, “A Return to the African Future”, Luju celebrates the sophistication and elegance of African heritage, cuisine and creative design.

The sixth edition of the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival will be held from 2– 3 August 2024.

For 2024, Luju has elevated the fashion experience! Festivalgoers can enjoy the spectacle of the Luju Fashion Show on the Mastercard Stage, where a host of talented designers from Eswatini and the region will be showcased, shop for sustainable fashion items at the Fashion Café and enter the Luju Best Dressed competition with a chance to win fantastic prizes!

This year sees Luju launching a Fashion Programme to support local designers, with a focus on their journey to the Luju Fashion Show. The fashion component of the newly inaugurated Standard Bank Luju Food & Fashion Indaba will precede the main festival, an industry conference on the business of fashion, will precede the main festival, focusing on the current fashion industry and common challenges facing brands and designers.

Theme
The 2024 Luju Fashion Theme is “African-Futurism”. Luju is celebrating the revolutionary power of fashion with this artistic and cultural philosophy that embraces African history and heritage, blending fantasy, technology and futuristic concepts to envision a future driven by Africans. African Futurism draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including traditional African clothing, futuristic designs, as well as retro and avant-garde fashion movements.

What to Wear
 Luju 2024 is all about individually personalised couture. African Futurism is a concept-oriented theme that asks in what way our outfits reflect our individual cultural backgrounds and aspirations for the future.

This year our outfits showcase and celebrate who we are and where we’re from, as well as where we think we’re going and who we want to be. Festivalgoers are encouraged to meticulously consider every facet of their attire to convey and honour their unique perspectives and individuality.

Luju Best Dressed Competition

Festivalgoers are encouraged to join the Luju Best Dressed Competition. Outfits must be aligned with the theme, expressing individuality, locally made, and with hair and accessories complementing the look. Outfits will be judged anonymously by a panel of fashion designers, influencers and stylists.

How to enter:
Take a full picture of your outfit at one of the designated Best Dressed branded photo booths at Luju 2024Upload the picture to your Instagram account and tag @luju_festival and @standardbankeswatini (Ensure that your account is not set to private so we have access to your post!)Name or tag your designerUse the hashtags #SBLujufestival2024 #EatSwayLove #MastercardRegister for Unayo (if you haven’t already!) and transact a minimum of E50 at the festival 
Prizes include E1000 into your Unayo account; E1000 gift voucher on your next outfit by local designer of your choice, courtesy of Mastercard; 2 x Premium Lounge tickets to Luju Festival 2025; and an #EatSwayLove Hamper! The Luju Best Dressed competition is supported by Standard Bank Unayo, Mastercard, Dala Spaces, and the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival.

Luju Fashion Show

The Luju Fashion Show will be a high-energy performance and storytelling show held on the Mastercard Stage. Don’t miss this Luju highlight as five local and four regional brands showcase their latest collections, inspired by the theme “African Futurism” in this entertaining, glamorous, creative event. Hair styles supported by Perfect Choice hair product and stylists, with hair extensions from Lush Hair. Festivalgoers are invited to become part of the Fashion Buzz on the Mastercard Blue Carpet, where all the press will be waiting to capture festival goes in their finery.

The Fashion Café

A fusion of more than 30 authentic local handcraft, fashion and beauty brands, as well as a Taste of Mozambique with 6 craft and fashion brands, the Fashion Café marketplace is a hive of creative abundance, selling diverse African fashion, accessories as well as skin and hair care products.
Festivalgoers can find a wide range of items inspired by African culture and heritage, including vibrant clothing, unique jewelry, and nourishing skin care products.
Whether festivalgoers are looking to add some bold statement pieces to their look or want to incorporate natural, plant-based ingredients into their skin care routine, this marketplace has something for everyone.

The Fashion Café supports enterprise growth and development for Eswatini’s craft brands, encouraging sustainable materials and innovative design. Festivalgoers can shop with confidence, knowing that they are supporting small independent businesses with a strong sustainability focus and promoting the beauty of African craftsmanship.

Luju Food & Fashion Indaba

This year, the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival reinforces its commitment towards creative Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME) development with the new, innovative and impactful Standard Bank Luju Food & Fashion Indaba.
The indaba will feature a dynamic two-day programme of insightful panel discussions, sharing knowledge on industry best practices with food and fashion experts from Eswatini and across the Southern African region.
The Fashion Indaba is sponsored by Standard Bank, Mastercard, Kulture Xchange, Zyle Clothing and Dala Spaces. For more information, please visit the official Luju Festival website.

Don’t miss out on this fabulous festival showcase of African innovation and design! Get tickets now from outlets in Eswatini, at Standard Bank Eswatini in Corporate Place, Mbabane, and Standard Bank branches in Ezulwini (Gables) and Manzini, as well as Dala Spaces at Malandela’s Lifestyle in Malkerns. Online tickets may be purchased via the Luju Festival website: www.lujufestival.com. Residents of Eswatini may also purchase discounted tickets through the Unayo Marketplace (save 7805 6364 to your phone, send ‘hi’ and follow the prompts). 

BEE sure to keep up with the LUJU BUZZ on social media: Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival on Facebook and YouTube, @luju_festival on Instagram and @lujufestival on Twitter!

The Luju Fashion Journey

In an exciting addition to the fashion programme, the Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival will support six Southern African fashion designers, five of them from Eswatini, on their journey to create a collection for the 2024 Luju Fashion Show.
In partnership with Kulture Xchange South Africa, The Luju Fashion Journey aims to support the growth and development of Eswatini fashion entrepreneurs by providing mentorship, trade linkages, collaboration opportunities and media coverage.
The objectives are to provide a platform for Eswatini and Southern African designers to showcase their profiles and work, promote cultural exchanges between regional designers, use fashion as a medium to tell African stories, and to drive awareness on environmental sustainability in fashion.

The Luju fashion journey will culminate in the Luju 2024 Fashion Show on the Mastercard Stage at the festival. The selected designers are being mentored by SA designer Phumzile Ntuli of Zyle Clothing as well as by Dala Spaces and Khokho Collections Creative Director, Philippa Thorne.

Luju aims to build on the Fashion Programme throughout the year, with the support of the festival’s partners: Standard Bank, Mastercard, Black Crown, Kulture Xchange, Perfect Choice, Zyle Clothing, Lush Hair & Dala Spaces. Follow The Luju Fashion Journey with Eswatini Fashion Entrepreneurs on all Luju Festival social media platforms.

Meet the 5 Official Luju Fashion Designers from Eswatini:

Thandwayinkosi Dlamini (Alvah), “Taking African Print Fashion to Corporate Routine.”

Sitfombolesihle Dlamini (Sitfombo Atelier) “A curation of the divine feminine, dressing the inner goddess one garment at a time.”

Philani Mpanza (Sgonian Republik), “Pioneering a Swati urban contemporary lifestyle, seeking to dress the discerning lady or gent with timeless and tailored sartorial pieces.”

Madoda Vilakati (Ruff Cutt), “A cutting-edge fashion design entity, creating various styles of clothing from vintage to modern and futuristic designs."

Ntrentre Nkambule (Ntrentre Couture), “An Eswatini clothing brand offering women the essence of a bold style and timeless allure. In the brand’s creative spirit: Avant Garde, haute couture, and pret-a-porter collections are created from an imaginative and revolutionary vision.”