Youthful looking Damilola Oke is an award winning fashion stylist. While many people assume that it is a pretty easy task for celebrities, she thinks differently. After graduating from Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Damilola travelled to England for more studies, where she gained exposure to the style and fashion world and later became a celebrity stylist. She speaks with PAUL UKPABIO about her plan return to Milan, Italy, and her views about fashion and style.
If you were asked to describe yourself, what would you say?
I am a style consultant. I dress people for a living, from celebrities to corporate clients, artistes, actors and other people who want to dress well or look good. My services are, however, for those who often appear before a crowd or are seen as role models.
How do you go about that?
It actually starts with consultation, building a profile and execution. For artistes, for instance, it is a bulk work, from stage performances to sets, music videos, and billboards; whatever it is you need to do to appear in a certain new way. It is a business of perception. It is the business where people are packaged in such a way that they are perceived well.
What is the need for being perceived well?
Oh, it is very important in entertainment and society. We are selling image, which people must buy. The day they stop buying, it means there is no meal on the table (laughs). People show up at interviews or auditions looking funny and failing to get the job. Meanwhile, a little packaging could have done it, so that they look the part.
Are you trying to say that some people don’t dress well?
A lot of people don’t dress well. And a lot of people have fallen short of getting opportunities for that reason. I do not think it is about dressing well; it is about dressing appropriately so that you are perceived in a good light. It is like seeing the President dressed in a manner that he shouldn’t. A lot of people would be upset for one reason or another.
It is not enough to be the biggest television star or the biggest movie star; it is about when someone who does not know who you are or know what you do perceives who you are and what you do at a glance. Or do I think that you look like a security personnel instead of the pastor that you are? So it is important that we give people the right frame so that they are perceived well.
How did all this get into you? Did you just wake up one morning and said, ‘I must be a stylist?’
(Laughs) To be honest, it has always been a part of me. I have always been careful of how I appear. Even when I am going to sleep, I wear my night dress in a different way. The consciousness grew more when I travelled abroad to study Corporate Communication and Public Affairs for my masters degree at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, which one can call advanced PR. Afterwards, I got a fashion job. It was something I liked. Over there, you can go to school and work at the same time. So I was doing the job for fun. But I later realised that I was much interested in the job of styling. Not necessarily fashion design, but putting together those final pieces so that they look spectacular, and cracking that style for every individual.
You mean every individual has a style?
Yes, everyone has a style; the task is to discover it. There are certain colours that fit every individual. But some people do not really care. Every individual has a style flowing from the inside to the outside. That was when I realised that I am in love with the art and then decided that when I returned to Nigeria, that would be what I would be doing.
While I was there, I became a personal stylist. I used to style people for wedding and other occasions, and the money was good. It is not like here where you have to talk and talk to convince people since it is not yet popular. Over there, there is a standard fee for personal shopping. So, when I moved back home, I worked in an advertising agency for two years as a senior executive. After that, I hit the street to make my own money. That was when I set up the company called Fierce and Modish.
You seem to believe that styling is an art…
It is an art because stylists are so called. There are styling schools abroad. As a matter of fact, I’m preparing to go to one soon in Milan for fine-tuning. Most often, I see the end product of things from the beginning. It is an inspiration that is not common to many. A lot of people have been doing what I am doing now for many years, but people do not know them. But I started not long ago, and I’m everywhere. It is not that they are not good enough, but it may not just be their calling. So, sometimes one just needs to step back for a while and find out what he or she is really out here for.
Styling to me is an art because I get inspired in ways that I do not even understand at times. Sometimes I meet people and I have these ideas for them that I cannot even explain where they come from. A stylist has to fine-tune his or her knowledge so that he or she is not extinct, because fashion is very dynamic. It moves like a train, sometimes even faster that a train, because what is on today can be off tomorrow.
So, a stylist has to continually be engaged with what people are wearing now around the world. The fashion for next year is already being talked about now. So you cannot wait till next year before you start overhauling your client’s wardrobe. You have to know when the world moves from short pants to full pants. For me, it is an art.
What does it take to be a stylist?
It actually takes a lot. It is a 24-hour job. You have to be ready to be bugged 24 hours a day and all through the week. You have to be on top of fashion trend, colour, body types, your environment, and you need to create your niche.
You have to focus and know your strength and weaknesses. To be a stylist means that you will have to be able to joggle all of these things together and find a way to make the best for your client, perhaps an artiste, actress or actor, or a brand, creative direction for an advertisement campaign, and so forth. It’s a lot of work, but I believe that if a stylist is passionate enough to hold on, he or she will emerge successful.
Where do you get your ideas?
I do a lot of research. I am always online. I follow a lot of creative stylists around the world who also work with creative, high fashion brands around the world. I also work with high street brands as well. I read a lot of articles on style. I observe feedback a lot. I’m always looking to hear from people. I ask questions: where do people think the market is going?
So, a lot of my ideas come from me. Some are given to me in dreams. During the day, I imagine a lot, and when I talk most often, people do not understand it until they see the physical thing manifest.
What is the role of research in all this?
I believe in research. If you do not search out where you are now, you cannot know where you are going. So, research is the engine of a stylist organisation. What have you read? What have you found out? What have you seen that makes you choose this instead of that? That is because people will ask you questions as a stylist. They will actually challenge you on your new outlandish ideas. People who are as old as your mom or your dad or even your mates, and suddenly you are telling them that this is better than that, they are likely to even ask you, ‘Who told you it doesn’t work?’
So you have to have knowledge to be strategic to tell them the reason why this will turn out better than the other. You need to be well informed to know why one thing will work better than the other. You cannot afford to miss out on anything. From New York Fashion Week to London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks, I have been on everything. You have to know where the campaigns are all going.
You have been involved in international fashion shows. How about the local fashion shows?
I have done that too. But right now, I am so busy that I do not really attend fashion shows except I am going to make money from attending it. I have outgrown that now. I have outgrown the excitement of fashion shows. People invite me to play roles there for them. The stylist is a middleman. When a stylist is at a fashion show, the stylist is likely to be representing someone or a brand.
For instance, the stylist could be looking out to get things for an artiste who cannot just be there because of image considerations to pick new things. Designers know that stylists are very important, as they are the ones that will actually take the items to those that will need them.
I have actually worked at the Lagos Fashion and Design Week before. I hosted for a brand. I also worked from the digital angle to inform the public about what I liked and did not like because people look up to me to know. That is how it is done abroad too. I got paid for that. What I actually want to be doing now is to be going to international fashion shows as a Nigerian stylist. That is because they are two different things. One is to go and be part of the funfest and it is another thing to go there as a Nigerian stylist where you get to meet the editors of the big fashion magazines, see the collections through their eyes and they too see it through your eyes and you get to take pictures with them and get exposed on style. That is one of my big goals now. I will be taking one country after another. It gets to a level where you have to aspire beyond your immediate environment, so you can appeal to other people that might interest you and your business.
What are the challenges of being a stylist?
(Laughs) We do have challenges. For instance, I style for men. I actually do much on men’s style. I know that there are not many men designers around. So it is difficult getting materials for men. Sometimes I have lots of jobs to do in a week: a photo shoot for a client, another movie thing to do, yet another press appearance for an artiste or a corporate brand. And you are shuttling around to get materials that fit each differently. It is not like that abroad, because there are lots of designers from high street to high fashion so you have choices to pick from.
So, one of the major challenges is finding the materials to work with. Hopefully, we should have more people going into fashion and design, and not just the same thing because the experience is that here, every men’s wear designer is a suit maker. I should be able to have people who make casuals and make them well. I should be able to have designers who make clothing for stage. I should not be begging suit designers to make stage ‘things’ for me. That wouldn’t be the person’s calling, so he perhaps won’t do it well. That is why we should have diverse designers. Every designer makes shirts and trousers. No, I want to have designers who make futuristic clothing. Things that are stylish; things that are unconventional; things that when you see, they inspire you because they are abstract; things that when we see them, we draw inspiration from them; not necessarily ready to wear things. We need a lot of materials.
When I have work, you need to see me brainstorming to research materials all over. Then also there is the challenge of logistics and traffic. Imagine one struggling over to an event in order not to be late. Then of course, convincing the client to pay that much for that branding. I end up talking a lot. It really gets cumbersome. So what I do now is I tell a client all I need to tell the client and if the client just seems to enjoy me talking (laughs), I tell the client ‘please can I call you later?’ When the client goes out there and goofs, then he gets to realise better and faster, that truly he or she needs to hire the service of a stylist. I cannot force people; I can only advise as a consultant.
Do people really have the money to hire stylists?
People have the money. Affording a stylist is not really a problem to most people; it is more about lack of exposure. Then there is the problem of payment and the contractual thing. Some people tend to dodge payment. They want the good thing but want to pay poorly. But at the end of the day, I’m not supposed to just make you happy, I’m supposed to be happy too. So I draw a line against the Father Christmas approach to business.
Some artistes come to me and ask if I can help them do their video on a low budget, and I reply by asking if they waxed their album for free! Then also, big brands owe for too long. I think we must sharpen all these up in our business sector for industry to grow. Rihanna is one big international brand that people love across the world, but most people do not know that Rihanna has had just one stylist in the last eight years. When people see a brand like that, they do not know that somebody or a particular team is up most nights thinking for that brand.
Do you think that stylists are recognised enough?
No, they are not recognised enough. It is only in recent times that there have been award shows where stylists are honoured. I won such an award recently too. I won The Stylist of the Year Award. I have won two awards. More people are getting to know about us though. That could also be partly our fault because I have seen some stylists who do not really believe in themselves. As for me, I didn’t become a stylist because I didn’t have something to do. I actually went to lots of schools. So, for me to say this is what I want to do, trust me, this is what I really want to do.
Can you draw the line between fashion and style?
What I can say is that, fashion is today, style is forever. That is the easiest way to say it. Another way to say it also is fashion is for everybody while style is for you. What is in fashion today will be extinct tomorrow (laughs). For instance, fat, long ties are not in vogue. Any guy wearing a fat tie today is extinct (laughs). Such can only be tolerated if the president wears it or if the person is very big. That is because such big guys cannot get away with slim ties. That is a trend. It is fashionable. But when a particular person wears a hat and it stands out, that is style.
So as a stylist, you take a fashion from zero to 100 degrees. Everybody can wear jeans or wear different colours, but the way you put it together is strictly your thing: It can only be rocked by you; fashion is what brings all of us together, while style is what sets us distinctively apart.
When can one say that somebody is stylish?
(Laughs) I think it is when you have watched the person for a period of time, like 10, 15 or even 20 years. That consistency in the way the person rocks it makes the person to be known to be stylish. Also a person is said to be stylish when the person always wows beyond the basic.
Are our musicians and society people stylish?
Well, a few of our musicians here are stylish. I wouldn’t want to mention names now because most of the ones that are, are already my clients. So it will be unfair on the others. I can say that there are not many actors who are stylish. On the society scene, we love fashion in Nigeria, Africans generally. But as for style, not many people have it. A lot of people follow the bandwagon; this person is wearing this, so let me do the same. Everybody filing in sequence (laughs). Then also, we do too much, put on too much. That is not style. Style is subtle. You almost don’t see it. It’s almost effortless. Most often, you are born with it.
Over here, you get on the red carpet or you are at wedding and you see people competing with the bride. It’s ridiculous! Now you even see people with train behind their dresses and they are not even the one getting married. It’s really ridiculous. Such people should just wait for their wedding day to wear such. Thank God for the cable channels, if you watch international style channels on television, you see how style is exhibited very subtly. You almost do not notice it.
Style is that tasteful touch; that edge that makes you want to whistle wow. Style doesn’t yell at you, and it is not thrown to your face. But it sets a person apart from the other people. Over here, we have a lot of people who buy expensive clothes, but I tell people you do not have to shop that much to be stylish. There are things in your closets that you haven’t worn in a certain way. That is why you think you do not have clothes. A lot of people say they do not have clothes, but they do. They just do not have the skill to combine what they have to look in a certain way. That is why they need a stylist.
What is your own personal style?
My style is weird just like my business name states it, Fierce and Modish. In fashion, fierce means aggressive, edgy and different. While mode means stylish. My style is thus edgy. I like to leave a memory with people when I meet them. It could be the colour of my slippers, or my colours or the hairstyle I have on. I will never do the regular. For colours, I like dark, navy blue, grey. I like monotones too, all white, green and sometimes I am very trendy, because as a stylist, one cannot sit in a style. I like cross-fashion. Sometimes my style is understandable, it has to do with my personality and I do ‘me’! I don’t do tight clothing.
What fashion contrast do you not like to see happen because of age?
For instance, my age influences what I wear. I don’t like it when people in the 40s or 50s dress in some particular ways. Yes, it is nice to dress good at 50, but not to have a 50-year-old wearing a mini skirt! It could be inappropriate, and the first rule about style is appropriateness. You cannot be looking like a 20-year-old when you are actually 50. Everything should be done appropriately. There are things you can still wear at 50 and 60 and still look young and fun without necessarily looking like your daughter who is in the university. But then, you still need to be seen as a mum. Being a mum is something to be proud of. I do not think that anyone should hide from being a mum.
What is the place of beauty in all this?
There are people who are not actually pretty but they package themselves so well and they look more beautiful than people who are naturally beautiful. Style is total. You cannot have a nice dress and have a shabby hairstyle. It is total. Your hair, dress, nail, make up, everything has to be on point. It doesn’t matter how ugly or how beautiful you are. I think everybody can be beautiful, it’s just how you present yourself. I think the reason why we go for an expensive chocolate more than the cheaper one is because of the wrapper. It is still cocoa. There is no cocoa that is made of gold. It is packaging!
What’s the place of make-up?
It is very important. In my team, I have make-up artistes. I don’t use just anybody because when you dress a client to the nines, a make-up artiste just uses one bad product to destroy the look. So make-up is important. The skin has to be glowing, especially for the celebs.
You are in an uncommon profession. Didn’t your parents complain that you should be a doctor or lawyer?
Well, I went to school, did a BSc degree in Mass Communication from Covenant University before going abroad for a masters degree. I have a diploma in Radio and Television presentations. I am about to go to school for fashion and styling. I don’t stop reading. That is what my parents appreciate about me. No knowledge is wasted. Rather, knowledge is power. What I know has helped me to move up fast. Clothes are the last aspect of styling. It is the least aspect. The journey starts from consultation, research and so on. The person putting a brand in your hand doesn’t want to mess up. I think the world has moved on from the traditional kind of jobs, with gifts making room for people. That does not mean the traditional ones are not important. The continent is now western. Abroad, there are people who are swim-wear models and that is all they do. They have houses in choice places.
So at what point will marriage come in?
I am hoping that comes soon. I believe in having a successful business and having a family. The true joy of a woman is to have a family. I do not want to forgo one for another.
What kind of man are you looking at having?
A man that supports me. It is tasking to be a businesswoman. You are faced with all manner of challenges. So, a woman needs support and that should be from her better half.
Do you love babies?
(Laughs) Of course, yes. My husband doesn’t have to be stylish, but he should be willing to become stylish. I will like a good-looking man beside me who is well dressed. He has to be God- fearing too.
Do you find time to relax?
(Sighs) Most times, I do not have the time. I am always even too tired to attend my friends’ events, especially at weekends when I work. I listen to music though. But next year, I certainly will go for a holiday.
