Guest:Jessica & Wandile Molebatsi| Designers 

20:35     Molebatsi’s representing Mzansi at the Milan TBC
                
Molebatsi is a luxury fashion house founded by fashion designer Jessica Jane Molebatsi and film producer/actor Wandile Molebatsi, whose combined strengths form a united brand with a purpose: social cohesion. The goal of the brand is to show the power of love and unification, the real purpose behind social cohesion, through fashion. 

Jessica founded the JessicaJaneTM label in 2011 to create couture pieces that aim to combine and celebrate South Africa’s rich cultural diversity. She has an impressive track record in the industry and had the honour of unveiling her French- Xhosa range in 2022 to a packed audience at the Ritz Carlton, home of Coco Channel, in the heart of Paris in the glamorous Place Vendome district. Here, the world got to see Jessica’s unique eye and vision to build a luxury African fashion house driven with a purpose. 
The business half of the Molebatsi TM duo is Wandile who is the founder, executive producer and owner of Coal Stove Pictures, and a seasoned actor in the South African film and television industry. He has been proudly promoting South African narratives to local and international audiences for over two decades with many accolades under his belt including a S.A.F.T.A Nominations, A.M.A.A Awards for Hear Me Move, B.A.S.A Award Winner, Nedbank Business Accelerator Finalists, JETS International Co-Production Winner and Africa In Motion UK & Ireland Tour Screening Selected Film. 
The inspiring couple founded the MolebatsiTM luxury fashion house with a shared purpose: to express the power of love and unification - what they refer to as social cohesion - and to do this through fashion, with the JessicaJaneTM label now becoming MolebatsiTM. 

While from two different cultures - Wandile a Tswana/Xhosa South African and Jessica part French and part Scottish - their journey has only amplified this truth and they are determined to advocate for social cohesion through fashion and to show how people are more than just what you see on the outside - that we are all spiritual beings that must find a way of connecting and showing love for one another. 
During South Africa’s Heritage Month (September); the couple’s vision for social cohesion and wanting to be ambassadors for what a united Africa and World could look like will be expressed through their newest range which will be shown at Milan Fashion Week 2023. MolebatsiTM will showcase Rakgadi on the 23rd of September 2023 inline with celebration of heritage of all South Africans. 

The range called RAKGADI – which in SeTswana means aunt - is an ode to all the powerful women that have played a role in Jessica and Wandile’s lives. Like the French-Xhosa range shown in Paris known as NOLUTHANDO, which means ‘the one with love’, the designs are underpinned by a print - taking the French print Toile De Jouy and creating a unique pattern using uniquely South African images. In the RAKGADI range the totems of the Tswana clans are united with the French Toile De Jouy. 

Jessica and Wandile are excited to build the Molebatsi brand as a purpose-driven luxury fashion house, with growth plans to expand their reach internationally and continue to grow the opportunities of the creative economy.