Damilola Oke is a style consultant and the personal brand, publicity and image manager and founder of Fierce & Modish Ltd. Her brand boasts of an impressive clientele including celebrities, corporate and lifestyle brands, film and television companies, and much more.
Popularly known as Madame Modish, she explores alternative fashion telling memorable style stories through the series, Fierce Weekly.
Where is your name Mo dish from?
So the mod is a style in French. Okay? Yes, I just added ish so stylish while Fierce comes from my personality. I’m very memorable.
How do you operate around style and memorability?
Personal branding is a conviction I have. I used to work in the advertising industry and then I realized that a lot of the communication was very poor, so you would wait for the model to speak before you even know what they were selling and I thought no when I see you, I should know what you’re selling.
So like you met me and you already know what I am selling that I am probably into fashion or something.
That’s how I dived into it saying I’m going to change the narrative. I’m going to change the way materials are perceived on Billboards TV and movies music videos, and fashion shows. Personal branding led us to where we are today.
Who do you work with? Let’s get that idea out.
It’s the whole thing I work with, I’m the centre of the nerve. The nerve involves the makeup artist, the photographer, the clients who are like the Apex the public as well.
I have people who have been working for 16, or 17 years and nobody really knows them until I get there and in two years, everyone knows them not because they weren’t doing their work before. But because I project them differently
I walk with everyone, if you do film, if you do TV, if you do modelling, if you do, if you sing, if you do anything, as long as you want people to know what you do from how you look, how you speak, your page, meeting you is the
last huddle.
They must know what you feel like before meeting you to even give you the opportunity to meet them.
So who’s the client? Are they individuals or are the agencies like advertising for instance, who employs your expertise?
So I feel like the business moths over the years, in the beginning, it was just individuals a few Brands, yes, corporate Brands. So every Financial Telco, anything production, so now it’s more. Yes, they’re individuals, but they’re like, you know, just like 5 to 10%
How big is your operation.?
It’s quite big, I do it on a contract basis because sometimes it’s quiet, and sometimes you are ideating. I mean we’re going on set next week. So now
we’re ideating for a movie. If I start to mention the movies I have worked on you will be surprised.
But how did it all get started?
I’m gonna give us a huge Ode to my alma mater Covenant University because I feel like they kept ringing in our heads, we’re training to be employers of labour not to go into the labour market and start looking for a job. It was like an everyday song, they sang.
So from the jump, I just felt. Yes, I would work to get experience but I would love to lead the pack. So when I went for my Master’s got all those degrees and move back home and I got a bit of experience for two years.
I said it’s time and I feel like I started late if I had started earlier, so I would encourage anyone who wants to jump in, my dear, jump in now because before you know it, fashion is such a dynamic industry, the younger, you are the better It is.
I mean, I try to look young, is very intentional for me right now. I wished I
started 8 earlier.
Doesn’t matter what you are in a general fashion, is a huge thing now. So like fashion is for people. In fact, my clients go to my page like we have had pieces on and off the Runway in the last week because there’s texture, there’s colour and if there’s one thing I advocate strongly for is the cosmopolitanism of all. So like move beyond your what is expected to what, you know
Do you train people?
I do. I’ve always been. In 2017 I had a one-day seminar for young
professionals that want to jump into the creative industry and I invited like
people who they would work with.
So, the photographer makeup artist, the director, and all of that. And next
year, towards the 10th year anniversary, we’re going to also have like a week-long event. where we have the master classes and all of that.
See the video below for more!
