She is creative and content when tapping into her imagination that allows her artistic juices to sizzle while making music. TV presenter...
She is creative and content when tapping into her imagination that allows her artistic juices to sizzle while making music. TV presenter and songstress Nina Ogot lets in Grace Wachira on her style
Tell us about your style. My style is twofold: I love the simple, casual girl next-door look, but I also like the classic feminine look.
How do you choose your stage and TV looks? I scout for my performance outfits after researching on the demands of the platform. I have a stylist, Alvin Njau of She Reigns Collections, who helps me glam up for my TV appearances.
The most expensive item in your closet? A Christian Dior perfume that a friend bought for me in France
Where do you shop? There is no particular shop that can meet all my wardrobe needs. So, whenever I find an item that I have been looking for, in whichever shop or flee market, I purchase it.
What attire can’t you get enough of? Jeans. I think I will be buried in jeans. I love variety good fitting jeans but I’m not one to hoard.
What kind of a shopper are you? I generally only tend to shop when I require something specific or when I anticipate the need for a specific item in the near future.
An outfit you won’t be caught in? Thin, elastic or stretch fabrics that are too tight and ill-fitting. I am also reserved with skirts and dresses that are too short.
Who is your fashion icon? My mother. Growing up, she was the one everyone admired for her dressing since she was always up to speed with the fashion trends from magazines like Talbots, Harpers, Elle, Vogue, among others, which she used to fuel her authentic fashion sense.
Whose fashion judgement do you trust? My mother’s, again. She is always quick to compliment me when I have done a good job of putting an outfit together and ready to caution if I’m about to make a fashion faux pas.
What is your take on Africa embracing western fashion trends? I am more interested in the fact that Africans are now embracing their own fashion sense. What’s even more exciting is that our fashion is being adopted by the West.
The right path for our fashion to take is uphold and celebrate its authenticity. If both the Western and African industries can merge and come up with an interesting hybrid, that would be a global fashion changer.
You rock your hair short or at times plaited, like now. Why the hairstyle alternation? I love to vary hairstyles and create my vogue. I have been known to push limits a little. As for plaited hair, it’s been a while since I did it. I’m simply enjoying it at the moment. I have been transitioning from short to long natural hair.
What are your sentiments on artistes’ sense of style in regards to branding?There are artistes who believe in branding themselves with one style and fashion approach so that they remain recognisable and instantly identifiable. However, there are those, like me, who I call ‘fashion morphs’ (that’s a word I have just created by the way) who change very often but have a main identity that makes them distinct.
When you are figuring out your brand, remember to start with what makes you, then explore from there. The trick is to nourish your brand and be comfortable with it.
