Imagine looking so good that it becomes illegal. Despite the excess of wealth, glamour and spectacle available to the settler elite in 18th century Cape Town, their biggest sartorial competition came from the 118 emancipated women of colour in the Dutch Cape Colony. In 1765, sumptuary laws were introduced, prohibiting these women from coloured silks, fine laces, adorned bonnets and even fake jewellery so that they could not visually appear equal to (or, more honestly, better than) their...

Beauty can be a knife and beauty can be a shield. In this episode, we explore the history of embroidery from Palestine to South Africa and their shared threads in documenting and resisting apartheid, uncovering the role of needlecraft in fashioning identity and healing communities. Khensani is joined by Lina Barkawi, a practitioner of traditional Palestinian embroidery (tatreez) who uses this craft to connect with heritage and educate others; Dr. Puleng Segalo, a South African psychologist...

Welcome to Clothes Minded, a show about African history, identity and meaning told through the language of fashion. As the Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui put it: “Cloth is to Africans what monuments are to Westerners.” Join Khensani Mohlatlole as she begins a quest to uncover the cathedrals for those with eyes to see woven into the literal fabric of our lives. Follow Khensani on Instagram @okbaddiek (https://www.instagram.com/okbaddiek) or subscribe to her newsletter, Hanger Management...