South African transgender activist, media personality and artist Yaya Mavundla has taken South African fashion to one of the world’s biggest Black LGBTQI+ gatherings, hosting the Global Black Pride Opening Ceremony and Black Excellence Awards Gala in Paris alongside internationally recognised ballroom and LGBTQI+ figure Vinni Revlon.
The events were held in Paris on 9 and 12 September 2026, ahead of the Global Black Pride march and festival taking place on 12 September.
Mavundla, who has become one of Africa’s most visible transgender voices, used the international platform to spotlight homegrown South African designers, appearing in five distinctly styled looks throughout the celebrations.
A week celebrating Black queer visibility
Global Black Pride Paris brings together Black LGBTQI+ communities, activists, artists, cultural leaders, creatives and allies from across Africa and the wider diaspora.
The gathering is more than a Pride celebration. It is a platform centred on Black queer visibility, culture, excellence, resistance and liberation, while creating space for conversations and celebrations around the experiences and contributions of Black LGBTQI+ people globally.
For Mavundla, the Paris appearance also became an opportunity to place South African fashion and queer creativity at the centre of an international cultural moment.
Her wardrobe featured pieces from Boys Of Soweto, Masango by Siphosihle and Queer Comfort, with Mavundla reworking some of the designs to create looks that differed from their original presentations.
Boys Of Soweto suit
Mavundla opened with a suit by Boys Of Soweto, a South African fashion label known for its contemporary interpretation of African identity and streetwear culture.
The brand has built its aesthetic around modern tailoring, bold styling and the energy of South African youth culture, creating pieces that sit between fashion, music and popular culture.
For Global Black Pride, the suit gave Mavundla a polished but distinctly South African opening look.
Masango by Siphosihle grey dress
The second look came from Masango by Siphosihle, a South African fashion label founded by designer Siphosihle Masango.
Masango’s work is recognised for its dramatic, feminine approach to design, often playing with volume, structure, movement and a strong sense of visual identity.
Mavundla styled the grey dress differently from its original design, putting her own interpretation on the piece and demonstrating how a designer creation can be transformed through styling.
Queer Comfort
Mavundla then switched things up with a leopard-print suit from Queer Comfort.
The South African label has positioned itself around fashion that embraces comfort, individuality and queer self-expression, with pieces designed to challenge conventional ideas about how clothing should be worn.
The leopard print added a more expressive and statement-making moment to Mavundla’s Paris wardrobe, while the suit maintained the sharp tailoring of the earlier look.
Masango by Siphosihle
For her fourth appearance, Mavundla returned to Masango by Siphosihle, this time in an off-white dress featuring a floral element.
Once again, she re-styled the designer’s original creation rather than simply reproducing the runway or intended presentation of the piece.
The result added a softer, more sculptural moment to the fashion story, contrasting with the stronger tailoring and animal print seen earlier.
Queer Comfort
Mavundla closed out the series of looks in a black dress by Queer Comfort.
The understated colour gave the final look a more sophisticated and dramatic feel, while remaining consistent with the label’s emphasis on self-expression and clothing that can be interpreted beyond traditional fashion rules.
Across all five appearances, Mavundla’s choices created a fashion narrative that moved between tailoring, femininity, bold prints and reimagined silhouettes.
Taking South African fashion to Paris
Mavundla’s Global Black Pride appearance comes at a time when South African designers and creatives continue to use international platforms to tell distinctly African stories through fashion.
Rather than relying on international labels for a global event, Mavundla deliberately centred South African designers, bringing pieces from Boys Of Soweto, Masango by Siphosihle and Queer Comfort to Paris.
Her styling also highlighted the relationship between fashion and queer visibility. Each look offered a different expression of identity, confidence and individuality while connecting the international celebration back to South African creativity.
As Global Black Pride Paris brings together Black queer communities from across the world, Mavundla’s presence places both her personal journey and South African fashion within a much larger conversation about representation, visibility and Black queer excellence.
