Designers
Dominus Ssekabembe, The Designer Behind Barbie and Robert Kyagulanyi’s Nomination Day Outfits!
Yesterday, Dominus Ssekabembe, just like all fashion enthusiasts, marveled at Robert and Barbie Kyagulanyi’s outfits with applause. However, for the 26-year-old designer, it was a totally different feeling! After all, he had created the outfits for the couple. “I was enveloped with exhilaration immediately they stepped out of their house, I was so overjoyed,” he tells me via Whatsapp chat. “Dressing both of them was one thing, but watching them clad in outfits we made on such a landmark day in their lives was a totally different thing.”
The young couple was heading out to the present their nomination bid to the Electoral Commission for Robert Kyagulanyi to be cleared to participate in next year’s presidential elections. The 38-year-old singer and entertainer is a huge symbol of hope to many Ugandans, so this was no ordinary day.
Although simple in appearance, the couple’s outfits were a product of weeks of brainstorming, planning and “countless journeys to and from Kamwokya,” says Ssekabembe. Barbie wore an ‘air hostess’ inspired white skirt suit, which featured an unexpected red accented side slit. She completed her look with red strappy kitten heels, a red crossbody purse and a red cap atop her head. Robert, on the other hand, opted for a blue pinstriped double-breasted suit completed with a thin red tie. Simple as they might have appeared at a glance, the ensembles sparked off heated debates across a number of fashion forums, with criticism and applause coming their way in equal measure.
“We created for Barbie something simple, but thought provoking since we don’t primarily do womenswear,” he explains. “She gave us the colour to work with and we came up with this concept of a skirt suit with subtle accents of red.” Since red is their colour, he wanted to show that the colour is within. “Ordinarily, someone would think of a having white on top and red on the bottom, but everyone knows this is their colour, so we opted to go with just accents of it as you saw in the buttons, slit and her accessories.”
Kyagulanyi’s suit was not without some significance too. “Pinstriped double breasted suits are a classic, and appeal to mostly the older generation, ” he explains. “We married that with a slim fitting silhouette, which young people associate with a lot. Also, we added a thin red tie into the ensemble to signify his political affiliation.” It took just a few day to create the looks.
When I ask him about how he landed this opportunity, he tells me that Kyagulanyi reached out to them “asking that we make a suit for him for nomination day.” Their business relationship started way back, in fact, Ssekabembe and his team have made a number of suits for the aspiring-president. “We have done about six suits for him so far, the most recent one being what he wore to meet with the Katikiro last month.”
This business relationship was born through Ssekabembe’s personal assistant Seguya Alawi, who resides in Kamwokya. One day as he was heading to work, he met Lewis Rubongoya, NUP’s Secretary General. “Because Lewis was clad in a slim-fitting suit, Alawi was quick to reach out – to make acquaintance with him and also tell him about ‘Dominus Apparel’, our bespoke fashion house,” he recounts. The brief chat culminated into a business deal where Rubongoya asked Seguya to make him a suit. This went from one suit to another and another until Robert Kyagulanyi took notice and asked that he [Lewis] puts him in touch with his ‘suit maker’. This, also went the same direction until Barbie requested them to create something for her for nomination day, a challenge they took on, even when they don’t deal in women’s wear.
Sekabembe says he has met Robert Kyagulanyi only twice; “first being, when we went over to take his measurements and second, when we were delivering these nomination day outfits since we had to meet him at this barber’s”. Therefore their relationship is purely business.
The graduate of Civil & Environmental Engineering from UCU doesn’t posses any professional training in fashion and design. “I learnt everything I know through apprenticeships and internships with various designers. He started Dominus Apparel four years ago after getting the desire to create a brand of his own.
The design house produces bespoke suits and other apparel for “men who desire to look different,” he says. “Barbie Kyagulanyi could be our only female client, because our focus is only menswear”.
When I ask if there other celebrity clients he has, his response is stern. “I honestly usually stay away from dressing celebrities. We are renowned for dressing ordinary people for weddings and other events. Yes, celebrities have approached me quite much but I tend to stay away for a few personal reasons.” Yes, Barbie and Robert Kyagulanyi are his only celebrity clients!
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