Gugu Intimates are strong supporters of the #BodyPositive movement and we salute them!

Millennials are known to be movers and shakers, and there is no exception when it comes to challenging body stereotypes. Women of all sizes and skin tones have taken to social media to celebrate themselves, in response to being constantly overlooked or under represented in mainstream markets.

Simple activities such as finding nude underwear garments in a suitable shade and size for their body can often be a struggle for women!

Fortunately, the campaign for acceptance and inclusivity has not fallen on deaf ears, as both local and international brands have slowly started to expand their product offerings and diversify their ad campaigns.

One such a brand is Gugu Intimates, an underwear line aimed specifically at the “melanin-rich Goddesses walking the African continent”. The brand provides a range of undergarments in various beige and brown tones, and aims to transform the meaning of the term ‘nude’, which for so long has encompassed only a single shade of beige.

Founder and CEO Gugu Nkabinde, says she started the brand as a movement pro-brown skin.

“Not against anything else, but to create a product that can give confidence to women like me who have not felt represented in the shades of underwear that we can wear under white or sheer clothing. And I strongly believed from the start that, if meaningful solutions to problems that affect us as (black) women are to be – it will be because we have come together to do to for ourselves.”

GUGU simply means ”Your object of desire”. A jewel, a treasure, worthy of honor and preserved.
Like your brown skin – beautiful in every shade.

The range currently carries sizes 32A to 38D in five shades of brown and can be purchased from the online store on the Gugu Intimates website.

We love these images of Gugu Intimates’ empowering New Naked range, featured on 10and5.com which celebrates colour and size through the bodies of beautifully diverse local creatives.

Photography Lauren Mulligan
Production Stefanie Jason
Creative direction Lee-Ann Orton
Assistant Aimee-Claire Smith
Make-up Alex Botha of Lampost (using Dermalogica products)
Graphics Tiger Maremela
Models Nkulsey Masemola, Lisa Ally, Boitumelo Rametsi, Nolwazi Tusini and Luke van der Burg