Okolo Miracle Obiechina, better known as Swazzi is a genius when it comes to making you look like a star, only recently, he began to take this ‘hobby’ professionally, he talks to Guardian Life on the thrills of fashion scenes merged with music and more.

Let’s journey with you on fashion and styling, how did that chapter begin?
The journey with fashion is something that I’ve always loved. It is something that I’ve always done, even when I was in a different sector of entertainment. Fashion is something that most people following me on social media are doing so, not because of anything, but my personal style. How I dress and how good I look. I actually started styling professionally and taking in clients in January 2021. During lockdown, I was having this conversation with my friends in my sitting room and I mentioned to them that I was going into styling and they were shocked at first. Later, we came up with the name, the Lifestyle Lagos for the brand and that was how I ventured into styling, professionally.

The vision of redefining and reshaping the scene, what led to it?
You know afrobeats is a genre that has gone global. Right now, it is a trending topic in the global market, and there’s no music without fashion. I say that music without fashion is like going to get your food without a plate. Fashion and music work hand-in-hand, and to be original in the global market, we need to sell our indigenous fashion and brands. So, I have a number of stylists working for my brand, the lifestyle affair, which is also known as Lifestyle Lagos.

So, I have a couple of stylists that work there. And our goal is to make sure that whenever we are styling a Nigerian music video in Nigeria, we use mostly Nigerian designers to portray the beauty of whatever story that we are telling and the creative direction of the director on the video because if we’re working in Ghana, we’re working with made in Ghana brands to ensure we achieved the concept and show the original idea we want to sell through that music video. It’s a personal thing to me to always infuse high fashion in music videos and make them look iconic as possible. Fashion, in music videos, often attracts people, sometimes, artiste come up with songs that people are not really excited about, but when they see the video, their impression change, because it’s not just about putting people in clothes, it’s about selling the idea of luxury, sharing iconic looks that will last the longest of time.

How have you been able to influence your style and fashion in music videos?
I always feel like when someone is coming to meet me for styling, they’re coming because they want to have a feel of my personal style, they want that touch, so, whenever a client reaches out to me, the first thing I always do is, I go out to check the person’s page, check out the person’s previous works, look at them, and see how I can bring this person from his world into my own and create something different, as I don’t want these clients looking the same. I want people to look different.

I want that when they come to me, I’m infusing my own originality and style into the person’s style. I try to bring the person’s style and mine together to create something different. That is why people hire stylists. People do not hire stylists to look the same or for you to put them in the same thing. I think every client I’ve worked with has come to understand and love this part of me. This fashion business is about the results, people see the outcome and referrals that come from these jobs, and so, that’s how I can get more clients every day.

What is your most memorable styling journey and why?
When I styled Kiss Daniel’s ‘Buga’. It changed a lot for me as a stylist, it made more people see me and my work. After ‘Buga’, another work that was so exciting to me was Asake’s ‘Organise’ and Tiwa Savage. I’ve always been a big fan of Tiwa Savage, so, working with CG Ohmori and the whole team to get the whole video done was a thing of joy and Asake’s ‘Organise’ as well. These are moments that took a lot from me and I was happy about the results.

For some red-carpet moments, from the last few years was styling Maria Chike for Sound City MVP. The look was one of the most talked about on that red carpet. As a stylist, you’re always looking for when people are celebrating your work. So, these are moments that really count for me. Again, becoming a personal stylist for Flavour, for a while now, is something joyous, because I’ve always loved him. I’ve always loved Flavour’s music. I’ve always wanted to work with him. So, working with Flavor now every day is a testimony for me.

What is the inspiration that guides your fashion choices?
What inspires my fashion choices for clients is me merging my style and theirs to make things work, and also, I am a big fan of vintage works. So, I always do like a lot of research to tap into the 60s, 70s and 80s style and see how I can bring it into contemporary fashion. I am also a big fan of early 2000s work. So, it’s always about, how can I make all of these periods work. That’s how I make my fashion choices for clients.