Costume repetition killing celebrity traits in musicians

Malawian urban musicians are in the present day falling victims to negative remarks for not embracing flamboyant clothing in music videos as well as daily life.

This comes in consideration of the widely held belief that clothes should draw a point of distinction between the famous and their followers.

But this has not been the case with most local celebrities as they dress just to hide their nakedness and not to impress. In some music videos, artists use their own costume citing lack of support from fashion companies.

However with the coming of music videos directors like Sukez and Ron CZ, artists try hard to fill the missing gap by being in outfits that tallies with the high definition cameras.

In an interview with Malawi24 yesterday, Lilongwe based afro pop singer Capital Gal, emphasised on the need for artists to take seriously the issue of costume through proper planning. She said artists should spare time for choosing costume prior to the video shoot.

“Artists have to prepare properly in terms of place, and costume before the video shoot. They have to prepare a number of costumes based on the video and the scenes, they have to be special for that video not for other videos,” she said.

Tay Grin is one of the very few Malawian artists who gets applause for taking matters of costume seriously every time he shoots a video or in daily living.

This gives him a celebrity status as is the case in developed countries with a thriving creative industry. Some fashion designers dress artists in music videos which also benefits them in terms of marketing their brands.

For instance, Lily Alfonso is synonymous with decorating celebrities but her solo efforts cannot meet everybody’s needs hence the need for every artist to take the costume issue seriously.

Fredokiss is another Malawian rapper whose dressing, on and off the camera, creates that celebrity impression.

When he has been spotted elsewhere, people can easily distinguish him from commoners. In Malawi there are more of celebrities by fame as they do not satisfy other factors.

This is blamed on poverty though the very same artists can afford a studio session for a minimum of K20, 000 and a high definition music video for more than K100, 000.