Pandora recently revealed their latest Wearing Occasions campaign and the newest additions to their muse collective.
Pandora recently launched their latest campaign, Wearing Occasions, featuring the newest additions to their muse collective- rising stars Thuso Mbedu and Dominique Fishback.
This year’s Wearing Occasions collections honours the importance of friendship, and there’s no better duo that reflects that than Thuso and Dominique. Today, HOLR sat down with the two stars to discuss their incredible careers to date in addition to how friendship is at the heart of the latest Pandora collection.
What does being a part of the Pandora Muse collective mean to you?
DOMINIQUE: I feel like a lot of times, as an artist, you’re trying to find things that resonate with you organically. I was really excited about this opportunity because I love Thuso. I think she is amazing. So, to be able to talk about friendship – something that means a lot to me – feels like alignment as an artist.
THUSO: It really does align. Coming from South Africa, I don’t have family here in the US. To find people that I can call friends is really meaningful. They are what’s become my family here. To find a brand that can express that, I am grateful.
Tell us about the newest collection and Wearing Occasions campaign from Pandora.
THUSO: The collection is called the Friendship Collection. It is celebrating friendship and highlights different ways that friends can capture their memories. For me, I’m a vision boarder, so I see it not only as our friendship, but what we want to do as friends. We can wear charms that embrace and highlight that.
DOMINIQUE: Another part of it is self-expression. For me, as a poet, being able to express myself creatively with the written word has always been a part of me. But to be able to find self-expression through jewellery and pieces that I could wear on my body every day is really cool. I can match it with my friends, and we can all express ourselves in a similar way that shows unity, but also shows us as individuals.
Talk to us about your relationship and what friendship means to you.
DOMINIQUE: We met at a party! We locked eyes and both screamed. Although we hadn’t met each other in person, we heard so much about each other and had mutual friends that are close to both of us. They always said, “You remind me of Thuso!” When we finally got to meet, I could see that.
To do this campaign together is really sweet. I’m so thankful that I got to do it with her.
THUSO: Dom is super driven and super cool. She is stylish as well, but it’s all about self expression. She knows what she wants and how she wants to be in the world. I really admire that in a big way. She is super focused and I love how sure she is of herself.
DOMINIQUE: Wow, thank you! I think Thuso is really brave. Following your dreams is never easy, but when you have to do it so far from home and far away from your family, that is another level that I don’t quite understand. Me going to Canada to shoot something, away from my family, for 3 months was really hard, and I’m from New York! I couldn’t imagine being from South Africa and coming here to do that.
I think one of the things about her that inspires me is that she is clear about what she wants, and she is not ashamed to speak up and have that sense of self. I think a lot of times it could be really hard, because you do not want to be misrepresented or misunderstood. I struggle with that a lot. Being in spaces with her where she can say “No, it’s just this” or “No, it’s just that” makes me braver.
THUSO: Friendship for me has always been all around important. My sister and I are orphans, so we were raised by our grandmother. Outside of our grandmother, our friends were our biggest support system. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize the importance of having a support system that you can completely be yourself with, that you can be vulnerable with, that will challenge you to think and be different. The importance of having people that you will actively put effort into and invest in, people who can share the milestone moments and the low moments.
DOMINIQUE: Being able to be yourself – as cliché as that sounds – is not easy. When you are yourself, you have to identify and take ownership over your traumas, your triggers, the things that you’ve been conditioned by society or by family to have. With friendship, you have to have someone meet you where you are and say I love you anyway. Finding people who are able to do that is a real gift. That is what I look for in friendship, and that is what it means to me.
How is friendship at the heart of the latest Pandora collection?
DOMINIQUE: I have friends from when I was like 10 years old. Everyone is growing up and starting a family and moving on with their lives. You don’t get to have the everyday interactions like you used to. But when you pick up the phone or travel to see them, it’s like no time has passed by. With the Friendship Collection, it’s a manifestation of those feelings. You can have a charm, and be across the world from each other, and look down at the charm and “Oh my best friend is wearing this at the same time.”
Thuso- you’re a star on the rise after your recent standout role in the critically acclaimed film, ‘The Underground Railroad’! What’s next for you in terms of your future goals and dreams?
THUSO: There is a film coming out in September called ‘The Woman King’ which was a lot of fun. I was able to go home last year, because we shot the entire film in South Africa. I had a chance to spend time with family and friends. It was a lot of fun!
There’s a lot I hope to achieve: creating some of my own stuff, writing – I’m trying to write an anime script which will be a lot of fun! – collaborating where I can, and producing stuff back in South Africa with the hopes of uplifting and creating opportunities for people back home.
Dominique- your breakout role in the critically acclaimed ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ earned you a BAFTA nomination, which is amazing! What other exciting projects do you have coming down the pipeline?
DOMINIQUE: Last year, I shot Transformers, the 7th installment. It’s supposed to come out next June! I also just finished a project with Donald Glover, it’s a limited TV show and I happen to be the lead of it, and it’s my first time leading a show. I also have ‘Subverted’, which is my one woman show, that is about the destruction of black identity in America. I wrote that is my thesis to graduate from college, and now Jamie Foxx is executive producing it and we are working on getting it out there.
Otherwise, poetry, music – just trying to find what my soul wants to do rather than doing other people’s art. It’s cool to express your true self and find what you want to do.
Published by HOLR Magazine.