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Fatumah Asha Talks Dressing Stars and Why She Doesn’t Follow Trends

I don’t follow trends.

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Rema Namakula, Sheila Gashumba, Bettinah Tianah, and Anita Fabiola are a few of the many Ugandan celebrities Fatuma Asha has dressed! From showcasing at major fashion weeks in Africa to winning fashion awards, and dressing up some of the most elite in Uganda, Fatuma Asha has become a household name in Uganda’s fast-growing fashion industry.

I sat down with her to talk about fashion and why it’s important to take your time while doing fashion designing.

Hello Fatuma ! What is Fashion to you ?

Fashion to me is freedom, its a way a lot of people express what they feel , or what’s going on in their lives.

What inspires your style as a fashion designer?

Am very versatile, I will love chiffon for a month then I will change and next month I will want something else . I don’t really have a specific thing that inspires me.

So what is it that you love right now?

I love big arms, really dramatic arms right now!

What inspired your choice of career ?

It was probably a calling for me, it’s something that’s natural to me because I used to do it even when I was young.

What’s the fun part about being a fashion designer?

It’s meeting new people every single day . You get to meet people with different characters and interests and you learn a lot from them.

And then what’s your favourite part about dressing up people , especially celebrities because you tend to have a high end clientèle !

Waiting to see how people are going to react to a particular design. At times it’s a bit scary and it gives you some anxiety as you wait to see how people will react to a particular design, they can hate it, or love it, or just be in the middle there!

Which designers do you look up to as your favourites?

I love Michael Costello and Versace because Versace is very versatile and most of the times draws inspiration from historical times and fashion.

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Which designers do you also like , in Uganda ?

Anita Beryl is very good. Abbas is very creative . I also love Sylvia Owori’s work , she’s into casual kind of style , her work is neat and she has great finishing .

Do you ever see yourself collaborating with another designer ?

Yes! Definitely! We’ll wait and see!

How do you keep up with the trends?

I don’t follow trends. One needs to just be free and create what one feels , then you can be a trendsetter .

Who’s your favourite client ?

Hahaha! I can’t say they’ll kill me! But I will say my favorite client is a bride. I love brides so much. I love it when they fit their dresses and they like them especially when they do the last fitting, with their moms and the mom says yes! I just love brides.

You’ve done a fashion show in Nairobi , do you see a difference between the style in Nairobi and the style in Kampala?

Well, Ugandans are very stylish … even better than the Kenyans!

What’s your favourite fashion show ever?

It was the Accra Fashion show . They are very organised . I think we { Ugandans } are almost at the same level when it comes to fashion with them {Ghanaians } . It’s just that they embrace their African print more than we do. We tend to do a lot of European influenced fashion, they africanise everything they wear from the bags to the jewellery to the clothes.

Sometime back , you made a dress for Deedan that had both chiffon and African print mixed together. Do you like to mix up different cultures when it comes to making fashion?

I always like doing that, but I don’t like to identify myself as one that only does African print – it’s easy to do African print, even a person that has studied fashion for about six months can do it doesn’t really challenge me and yet I like challenges.

What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses? 

I am patient, fashion designing is not an easy business, you need to be patient. Weakness … I don’t trust people easily. Most designers have ten to twenty tailors, but I have only two, which ends up making me do almost everything. At times I even sleep at my workplace working!

What advice would you give an upcoming designers?

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Patience – you have to be patient , don’t try so much to be on a level that might bring you down, take one step at a time. Get the right knowledge too , don’t fumble with things, it will be great then.

Totally off fashion , you love long hair why,?

Hahaha. I have short hair and prefer it. I go in for long hair because it’s unique and people don’t forget it easily!

And there you have it , fashion through the eyes of Fatuma Asha!

SatisfashionUg@gmail.com

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