CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

My Name is Ifeanyi Nwune, I’m a 500level student , Elect-Elect, Covenant University, I’m from Anambra, I’m the last of four boys.

AT WHAT AGE DID YOU START BECOMING FASCINATED WITH FASHION?

In ss3 yeah. I was writing my WAEC at that time, and I did this photo shoot with my cousin’s clothes and I thought it was phenomenal, cause it was just interesting like it was weird clothes and then I just liked the whole idea, at that time I even wanted to start doing modelling but then I found out modelling was boring after like less than 6months, so I just ventured into other stuffs. So that was ss3, like 5 years ago.

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR A CAREER IN STYLING?

I did my first styling gig in 2011, At that time it was the biggest fashion show, it was called Arise Magazine Fashion Week, I was the styling assistant there so I got to meet like a lot of designers from around the world and a couple of celebrities & models. It was just interesting to me like the fact that we could get payed to dress up people, it was just interesting. So I got into it and then I started with a few shoots here and there, at that time in 100level I did a shoot for a chocolate city artist named Nosa, I did it for free at that time cause I was just happy and I was excited doing it, but it was really good, after that time I just got the flare for it and I just kept on learning and learning over the years.

AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CAREER DID YOU FEAR THAT YOU MAY FAIL?

At that time I didn’t really care, I didn’t really care about failure or success, I just wanted to do something cool. I feel like, once you’re trying to do something cool, you can’t fail to look cool. Once you try to do something cool, you’ll be cool, So like failure was never on my mind I don’t know why, it was just not an option for me, it was something I never thought of.

IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO?

I look up to Riccardo tisci, he’s the fashion director at Givenchy. I look up to Juun J, he’s a Japanese designer, he’s phenomenal man, he’s so crazy like all his collections are all different aesthetics. I look up to Rick Owens, he’s another eccentric designer, he’s presentations are always mad, he has a drama for every fashion presentation he does. I look up to my cousin Ugo Mozie, he’s a fashion consultant and a creative director as well. I look up to Amancio Ortega, he’s the owner of Zara and the second richest man in the world so I want to be like that someday.

SO WE KNOW THAT YOU’RE A FASHIONISTA, A DESIGNER AND A STYLIST, HOW DO YOU INTRODUCE YOUR JOB DISCRIPTION TO PEOPLE?

I tell people I’m a creative and lifestyle director. I do creative direction based of my clothing brand and then I do creative direction for like music artists in respect to what kind of music they put out, what kind of video they put out, the kind of image they should create for the public to see. I do creative direction for shows and all, like music shows. So that’s generally how I introduce myself, as a Creative and Lifestyle Director.

SOME PEOPLE SAY YOU’RE PROUD, WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THIS?

People that say that don’t know me, they just look for something to say so they’ll look cool and people will think they know me, but they don’t. Cause I’m far from that, I’m like the most open person ever. I can only be rude to you if you come off as rude to me, you know, I give you what you deserve, so like I’m far from that.

HOW DO YOU STAY UPDATED ON CURRENT TRENDS?

I’m always online, like 24/7. I always like to learn from other peoples stuff so I look out for what the big names are doing, or how their aesthetics are changing over the years and I just try to learn from it and just infuse into mine, Cause the only way you can be like them is acting like them, so I just try to learn stuff from them everyday, so I’m always online everyday, and I checkout social media to just to see what their up to.

HOW DO YOU REACT TO NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR WORK?

I’m not going to lie men, I’ll say I don’t care but I do. I care so much about the negative comments, I feel like everyone should like it, And when people don’t like it I’m like well, I did my part. But it doesn’t stop me in any way, I still keep doing whatever it is I want to do, I still keep doing it 24/7, but then hearing negative comments just makes me feel like I’m not appreciated which doesn’t bother my art but it bothers me as a person, I’ll still keep doing it but me as a person I’m like “What, you people should be so excited I’m doing this, cause people are not doing this”.

WHILE STARTING UP, DID YOU GET SUPPORT FROM HOME?

Yes I did. I feel like once you’re doing anything and you’re being productive, like anyone who loves you for real or anyone whose your family would support you. So I did, cause they knew I was just doing it just for fun, I wasn’t just going out there just to hang with celebrities, I was actually trying to make stuff happen. Obviously they would complain, cause my dad told me one time that if he doesn’t complain who else will now complain, that he has to complain and act like his complaining, you know, although he’s really proud of what I do but then he has to complain. But yeah, I feel like if you’re being productive with it, if you’re trying to make some money from it, if you’re to change the world with whatever you’re doing, like everyone will support it.

ANY ADVICE FOR THE UP AND COMING FASHION STYLISTS OUT THERE?

You need to constantly work on yourselves, and try to build from every shoot or every job you get. Like your next job should always be the next level, it should always be better than your previous job, and you should be able to perfect your craft, know where to get the right shoes from, know where to get the right accessories from, know where to get the right clothes from, And don’t sell yourself short, don’t charge cheap money cause you’re trying to do stuff, cause if you charge cheap and they pay you cheap, you wouldn’t be able to meet up to your expectations, So charge based of how much you’re spending to get your clothes together, to pull your clothes from the designers, like charge based of that. But sometimes its not all about the money, maybe you’re doing it based on promo, obviously if youre trying to work with wizkid for example, you know the kind of promo you get from styling wizkid, obviously u’ll do that, but wizkid wouldn’t even want to do a shoot with you and not pay you well. So generally just know your worth and always come through.

IFEANYI FINALLY, WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE ALL TIME DESIGNER?

Lol, Ummm, that’s hard men, that’s hard. There are some new brands I’m interested in, but of all time, I think juun j, yeah juun j definitely, because Asian & Japanese designers are the best in the world cause they have no limits at all, they just go all in not like African or American designers that r trying to be in the “what is popping”, Asian designers don’t care, they go all in and they start the trends actually. So I think juun j and Riccardo tisci to is dope. Yo, juun j and Riccardo tisci.