Designing for Oprah, my biggest break – Yusuf Tumi
He was recently commissioned to design costumes for Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) series. He speaks on this break in his career and his sojourn in the industry designing for the likes of footballers Cheick Tiote, Leon Best, and singers Davido and Brymo amongst others. How did you land the job designing for OWN?Designing for OWN […]
He was recently commissioned to design costumes for Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) series. He speaks on this break in his career and his sojourn in the industry designing for the likes of footballers Cheick Tiote, Leon Best, and singers Davido and Brymo amongst others.
How did you land the job designing for OWN?
Designing for OWN is my biggest break yet. I was contacted by Ruba Wilson, he host Celebified and Sidereel for VMA red carpet and interviews celebrity
He got in touch and dropped and email telling me about how he likes what I do and it fits his style, so he asked for us to work together.
Then he called me after a few weeks that we would be having a project on Oprah Winfrey network and he stars in this new series called ‘Flex and Shanice all in the family’ which would be on air by fall of this year. It premiered May 31st and had the highest weekend rating. I’m presently doing the fall collection for the series show Under AP ApparelPolo.
So I came up with a few works on my laptop and sent to him and he was happy with them. We moved on from me being the guy that just designs for his collection to the official designer for the series with a collection under him which will be sold in America and also be used on fashion weeks.
What American and Nigerian artistes you are designing for?
Mainly, I work with celebrity jeweller, Ali Soltani who owns a luxury watch brand, Ritmo Mvndo in America. I’m the brand representative/ambassador and hopefully will bring it to Nigeria when the time is right. The first American artiste who saw my work and appreciated it was hip hop artiste, Chidera Anamege, (Chiddy Bang). Then Ruba Wilson, owner of ‘Rubasworld’ show who also is on a series show for OWN Network, asked me to bring up a collection look for him last year which we’re working on.
Blackburn Rovers striker, Leon Best who was the first footballer to wear my work and he actually invited me to his house where I met his family. It was very receptive meeting where we spoke and he encouraged me and took a keen interest in my work, indicating ways in which we could make it bigger.
Newcastle midfielder, Cheick Tiote also had a few of my designs, and then just before the end of last year, he called me to be his official wardrobe designer.
There are also French player, Sylvain Marveux, Davido and Brymo who was the first Nigerian artiste to wear my outfit.
It seems you only design for men …
Tough one… eeerm … because I’m a guy. I could easily control a look and style. I want to be influenced by my design.
I’m yet to understand the pattern of female designs. I want to venture into it but I’m not yet at that point. One needs a lot of capital especially when you are not female. I would go into female design with a creative upcoming female designer because I want to make a statement with my female collection. For now I’m still studying and mastering the art of the feminine look and how I would tweak it to be an unorthodox to match the Ap apparel polo female look.
What’s the most difficult outfit you have been commissioned to make?
I haven’t seen any as being difficult. The funny thing is I set my own blueprint so I don’t even follow the norms of designers or try to copy one or another outfit. But my first blazer was a huge task because I barely knew anything of the look I wanted to create but after one or two mistakes; I became pretty confident with what I wanted. I basically engineer my design because I know what I want. In a nutshell I’m pretty cool with how I tweak my work with my team.
You also design shoes. Do you target anyone?
The whole wide world; I have no distinctions about who to wear and who not to wear. The brand is for everyone from old to young, white collar jobs and the rest of the world. I want every one; celebrities, non-celebrities, politicians to embrace us.
Based on your response to dealing with customers abroad, would you say that will pay you better than if you were in Nigeria?
I would like to believe Nigeria and Nigerians are trustworthy people in all fairness we wouldn’t do a bargain or a credit crunch on our brand. The standard has been set, product check has been met, we have that uniqueness, whatever makes your intention to go into a shop for anything signifies you are either taking it home on full price or you are window shopping. I’ve done so much to ensure the standard of the collection is rated at international level. My work has been featured on football players, artistes in UK, The brand has been on Metro Newspaper, Chronicles, and even the BBC. Our response dealing with customers would be the same; no partiality.
How do you source the materials with which you work?
The good thing about design is I use my computer skill to create an outlook material I want and tell my manufacturer to outsource that and use the preference and design which I’ve given to them then it’s sent to me for product check and recommendation before I approve and send it off for final work.
Do you have a favourite colour you enjoy working with?
Black because of the boldness of the colour, gold because its old and vintage, white based on it purity, red based on its striking alert for statement these are my major colours. I don’t have a favourite colour but i have a favourite colour moment.
What designers do you like to wear? Don’t say it’s you…
(Laughs) I love to Wear Ap Apparelpolo a lot. I think they have great style and design. I also love Hermes for watches, I like Bottega Venetta.
Yves Saint Laurent, Emernegildo Zegna, Valentino Garavani and the attitude of Karl Lagerfield.
Did you have objections from your parents or any others about going into fashion designing?
My parents are classified nerds. (Laughs) I don’t really discuss much of my side reel with them especially the entrepreneur side of things. But as we all know, what the old would see sitting, the young would never see it even when they climb Mount Everest. In a nutshell my parents know but I think they probably don’t want to say anything to discourage me and they would rather not say anything to get me hyped up either.
What kind of supports do you suggest creative artists like you should be given in Nigeria?
I think cooperate organisations like MTN and Glo, Etisalat should invest more in artistes and professional entrepreneurs as ambassadors to encourage the movement. It’s not just about music. A musician or a politician or banker won’t go to work naked without any cloths! Let one of these companies set the bench mark and I promise a lot of things would change in Nigeria.