My Joburg Jumpsuit: A Love Story

This jumpsuit love story began eight months ago, when I booked a Caraci experience on Airbnb to celebrate my birthday. Thorsten and I spent a glorious day in the Joburg CBD, shopping for African print fabric, learning how to sew, hanging out in the city, and having fabulous jackets made to our exact measurements.

That initial experience happened in July, when Caraci owner/founder Sebo Marobela was overseas for several months. I started following Sebo on Instagram and discovered he was traveling in the U.S., spending time in several of my favorite American cities. I love following South Africans who travel in my home country and I found Sebo’s travel content delightful. We started chatting over DM, became Instagram friends, and Sebo invited me to do another Caraci experience with him once he was back in Joburg.

Concurrently with all of this, I’d also been dreaming of a jumpsuit. Jumpsuits are in these days and I love the idea of them. But finding the perfect jumpsuit, which both fits my body and doesn’t require 10 minutes to remove every time I need to pee, was proving a challenge. I had seen one or two jumpsuits in the Caraci Clothing Instagram feed and wondered if I could have one made during my next Caraci experience.

Spoiler alert: Sebo is even more delightful in person than he is on Instagram. And I got my perfect jumpsuit.

A Caraci Jumpsuit Experience

I won’t recount my entire second Caraci experience in detail as I’ve already written about first one. Everything was the same, except this time I was with Sebo and Laurice (from the Johannesburg In Your Pocket Guide) instead of Nonhlanhla and Thorsten.

After some introductions, we walked to Noble Fabrics on Troye Street, stopping to admire the Joburg sights along the way. We chose our fabrics – I chose two different prints this time because I had an extra outfit made (more on that later). Then we went back to London House to plan our garments, then went to lunch. The experience culminated in a rooftop photoshoot, which, for various scheduling reasons, Laurice and I did separately on another day.

The Caraci team has a studio full of sample items, which participants can browse through to choose the type of garment they want to have made. My jumpsuit was based roughly on a couple of other jumpsuits that they already had, but I chose to make mine without sleeves.

The Final Jumpsuit

Let me pause here and reflect on the fact that I’m turning 50 in a couple of months. I’ve been struggling with this looming milestone, coming to terms with changes in the way my body looks and feels. So I came into this experience wanting to have fun with clothes and create something that would make me look and feel like a million bucks.

Sebo and his team have a joyous, body-positive approach to fashion. They know how to create clothes that make their customers feel great about themselves, and that’s what this outfit did for me.

Here’s a logistical note on what makes the design of this jumpsuit great: It has buttons, an elastic waistband, AND a zipper below the waist (similar to where the zipper on a pair of jeans would be). This combination of features makes the jumpsuit both extremely flattering and easy to take on and off (at least by jumpsuit standards). I want to wear it every day.

As if that weren’t enough excitement, I commissioned a second outfit: a signature Caraci kimono with matching palazzo pants.

AND, I had another jacket made for Thorsten.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Caraci Airbnb Experience is one of the best experiences I’ve had in Joburg and is worth every penny of the R3700 ($200) that it costs for the full-day experience – that price includes lunch and your finished garment. (Note: A garment like my jumpsuit is slightly more complicated than some of the other Caraci items, so if you want that one for your experience you may need to return the following day to collect the finished product.)

But you don’t have to do the full experience to get these clothes; you can also make an appointment with Caraci and commission a made-to-order garment, or buy one of the dozens of items already for sale in the studio. A jumpsuit like mine costs R1650 ($88), the two piece kimono set is R1600 ($85), and a bomber jacket like Thorsten’s is R1200 ($64), or a bit less if you buy it off the rack. WhatsApp Sebo at +27-76-025-1643 or email [email protected] for more information.

Thank you, Sebo, for my perfect Joburg jumpsuit. You’re a national treasure!

My Caraci experience was complimentary. Opinions expressed are my own.