It’s the new Luxury Department Store in Hyde Park Corner which everyone is talking about....“The first store of it’s kind in SA” which houses the finest international brands making their debut in SA such as Alexander McQueen, Tory Burch, Dianne von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Giorgio Armani and 70 other top-notch designer brands.

The business venture, co-owned by Khanyi Dhlomo, CEO of Ndalo Media and founder of Destiny Magazine, her mother, Venetia Dhlomo and an old family friend Judy Dhlamini has been years in the making when Khanyi, after living in Paris realised that SA has no such offering. She wanted to bring South Africans often travelling overseas for shopping an opportunity to rather do so in their own home country. And so, with her MBA, received from Harvard in hand, she felt confident enough to embark on a business venture of this scale.

Luminance, meaning “to radiate light”, like Khanyi’s name, is a dazzling 700sqm store designed by John Jacob Interiors which is a haven of gorgeous nooks and crannies. The store has been designed in a way to give each brand showcased its own space of glory with beauty, fashion and art installations all over to compliment the grand designer labels found. The cherry on the cake is the coffee bar at the far end of the store which houses it’s very own Assouline, guaranteeing even more hours spent in this store.

Not only does the store house international brands, collections deemed authentic to SA, made by local designers such as Stoned Cherrie, Marianne Fassler, Stefania Morland, David Tlale and the store’s own Luminance Private Label, sit comfortably alongside the likes of Tom Ford, Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa. A key part of the Luminance brand ethos which makes us love Luminance even more, is its social investment agreement in which a 10% shareholding in Ndalo Luxury Ventures will be held in a trust, with profits benefiting rural women entrepreneurs.

Luminance is a store where everything’s aimed at delighting and surprising customers, and which respects their taste, intellect and love of beautiful things, regardless of what they can or can’t afford, it has something for everyone. Customers can purchase a wide range of contemporary and luxury items, including homeware, jewellery and artworks from both local and international artists such as Imiso Ceramics, Merwelene van der Merwe and Nelson Makamo from SA. This collaboration allows for international recognition for those which may not have had the opportunity prior to the store opening. An exciting partnership, which is good enough to mention and which will ensure that LUMINANCE is the crème de la crème within the fashion realm of South Africa, is the one formed with Nedbank Private Wealth. 

Luminance clearly is a destination store, you won’t be able to appreciate everything on offer on your first trip (unless you have hours to spare) but the good news is that now you don’t need to pay those hefty plane ticket prices to buy something from Donna Karan, this store has it all and is even attracting international travellers passing through Johannesburg and those from our neighbouring countries. I see Luminance as more than a brand that conquers SA: I also see it conquering the continent,” says Khanyi.

We wish you all the success Luminance, you have our thumbs up!

Luminance is located at Shop 45, Upper Mall in Hyde Park Corner Shopping Centre. The store number is: (011) 325 4765.

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