How Me&B built joy into South African fashion

A couple of years ago, I lost a friend to cancer. The grief that followed was the quiet, complicated kind that does not always arrive dramatically but instead settles slowly into the spaces of your everyday life until sadness, guilt and longing begin to feel like familiar companions that have decided to stay. The Friday before I drove to Lebowakgomo in Limpopo for her funeral, I remember sitting in my office staring at my computer screen, knowing I had work to do but feeling unable to summon the energy to focus on anything.

The thought of going home to pack a bag for a trip that would end with saying goodbye to someone I loved felt almost impossible to face. I did something many Joburgers instinctively do when they need a moment to breathe: I took a walk to 44 Stanley which is opposite our office. There is something about the place that has a way of bringing life back into you even when you feel emotionally drained.

The leafy courtyards, the independent shops and the low hum of people chatting over coffee feel like a small pocket of calm inside a busy city. As I wandered through the courtyard, my phone rang. A friend was calling with a message from Happy’s mom.

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“She says she doesn’t want us wearing boring black dresses,” my friend said. “She wants us to dress lively and celebrate her life, even in the way we show up.” I paused, thinking about the simple black dress I had planned to wear, the standard grief uniform that allows you to quietly blend into the sadness of a funeral. In the window of Me&B, hanging effortlessly on display, was a black and cream wrap-around dress that looked simple yet striking at the same time, the kind of garment that quietly invites you to step inside and try it on.

I walked in, slipped the dress on and immediately noticed how soft the fabric felt against my skin, how the loose silhouette moved easily with my body and how the comfort of it wrapped around me in a way that felt strangely reassuring on a day when everything else felt emotionally heavy. It was exactly what I needed without even realising I needed it.

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