When you think of celebrities, often times you think about trendsetters.
Fashion is one aspect most celebrities, especially musicians, strive so hard to stand out in. And social media, particularly Instagram, has created an even greater demand for them to showcase their sense of fashion.
The more influential stars will influence their fans to copy their fashion trends.
The whole point of showbiz is to sell the façade that one lives a flashy lifestyle. And what better way to achieve this than to regularly share photos of you donning designer outfits or better still brand yourself completely different from the rest of the pack?
In the 80s, singers like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince and David Bowie were among the names that made fashion a striking feature of their brands.
Subsequent generations would introduce Britney Spears, NSYNC, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and the like.
Uganda has had its own crop including Spice Diana, Fik Fameica, Azawi, Pia Pounds and Grenade, as musicians who you would say identify with a unique sense of fashion.
However, fashion designers seem to suggest Ugandan music stars are still doing the bare minimum when it comes to incorporating fashion in their art.
“We like copying what’s already there. The artistes don’t give us chance to create. They are quickly taken up by international trends and they forget we have our own,” Abbas Kaijuka, a designer known for styling some of our A-list artistes said recently.
Popular stylist, Abryanz of Abryanz Collections extends the blame to music video directors who go on set with rigid preconceived ideas regarding what the video should look like.
“They come with specific demands. I got to a point where I would give them outfits but tell them not to mention me. They come with pics of Burna Boy and Fireboy,” Abryanz added, whole explaining how at times he felt ashamed to associate himself with the tastes of the artistes.
Music videos have for a long time become a crucial vehicle of not just projecting singers’ fashion but also for fashion designers to get endorsements.
Abryanz thinks involving stylists in the process of conceptualizing the music video would be one way to address this problem. That way, they can throw in their ideas.
“Sometimes we have done it for free, sometimes we’ve invested in the artistes. But generally, we are challenged by artistes having a stubborn and rigid attitude. I remember in 20199, Abbas did a collection from a kikoyi on the runway at the Uganda International Fashion Week. I was impressed by how he had remodeled the kikoyi in different styles,” he added.
But Abbas says he’s still stuck with these kikoyi designs in his store since no musician seems to be open to the idea.
The kikoyi is very primary to Uganda’s traditional wear, as it is worn under the gomesi, Buganda’s traditional dress. The gomesi dates back to the early 1900s and was a result of attempts by Christian missionaries to design a uniform for students (girls) of Gayaza School.
Its cultural significance aside, the kikoyi print shares colors with Uganda’s flag – black, yellow and red. One would argue, by designers suggesting artistes take a bet on the theme, there’s a point to be acknowledged.
Not that being fashionably outgoing isn’t without its own shortcomings. Some musicians have had to endure ridicule and mockery, in their attempt to depart from the norms.
It took Azawi a while, for example, for a section of the public to warm up to her unorthodox choice of wardrobe.
“I’m not going to explain to you why I dress the way I dress [or] why I behave the way I behave…I am not answerable to anyone,” the Bamututte singer has previously said.
But sometimes such an attitude is not in isolation, it is how an artiste perceives themselves as a whole. From the onset, Azawi was not ready to be boxed in a particular genre.
“I don’t want to be a monotonous artist, I just want to be an artist,” she says. “I don’t want to be an artist with you know, details attached to me, or names attached to me. I just want to have that name Azawi, the artist, period.”
Question is – how many musicians share that mentality or are willing to wither the consequences that come with experimenting new tastes?
