Glam Africa: The Revolutionary Edition (2019)

in particular when I came out of the villa. But being out, it’s
been dope. My cousin who went to school in Nigeria told
me I'm even getting love out there. That blew my mind. I
didn't even think the response would be so big here, talk less
of back home. The love has really been crazy." And crazy
doesn't even begin to describe it.
So how does life outside the villa compare to life on the
inside? "In the villa, it’s a very different environment. You’re
around a lot of different personalities and I guess some of
them aren’t people you would normally interact with in your
day-to-day life. It’s very different from that standpoint because
you’re thrown in there with all of these different characters.
It's a big space, but once you’re there 24/7, everyday,
it becomes a really small space. So it was a different
experience, but it was dope at the same time."
Well, thanks to that experience, Ovie has joined a league of
hypervisible African men whose individuality and creativity
are helping to change the narrative surrounding blackness
and masculinity. From Virgil Abloh to Edward Enninful,
African men continue to thrive in the global creative space,
and newcomer Ovie has a lot to learn from his predecessors
if he's going to take on the industry. "We sort of just met as
two black men," he said of his recent sit-down with British
"I'd love to see
more of the younger
generation taking
charge of who they
are and who they
want to be"
Vogue editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful. "He’s done very well
for himself in the fashion space, he’s done great things. I was
able to sit down with him and just catch up and hear his
views. Maybe we’ll get to work on something in the future,
but all of that stuff is still in the pipeline, so we’ll see."
There is a lot happening on set at the moment. By now, Ovie
has done all his fittings and the photographer is ready to get
going. I plug my laptop into the in-house speakers and select
my favourite iTunes playlist. The bass-line begins on track 1.
It's Zombie by Fela Kuti. Ovie dances and hums along with
the blaring horns, playfully mimicking trumpeter movements
with his fingers. "He's dope, man," Ovie says, when asked
for his opinion on Fela. "Fela is to Africa what Bob Marley
is to the Caribbean. He’s huge. There’s not an African
artist or even an artist outside Africa in the musical scene
that won't know who Fela is." It is evident how much he
loves talking about Nigerian culture, food and music, even
though, as he admits, he hasn't been back to Nigeria since
he was a child. At one point, Ovie attempts to zanku, and
although I can see a hint of the popular West African dance
JUMPSUIT
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