Lagos-born Ugochi, a trained interior designer fights prejudice against blacks by day and keeps her head held high as she shines on the catwalk for the first time.
By Asmita Aggarwal
Nigerian born Ugochi, came to India to actually study architecture, but got into interior design, which today will be her second choice of career when the arch lights of modelling fade away.
Fighting the perceived notions about blacks and South Africans in a city like Delhi which can be a challenge to live in, due to increasing cases of intolerance, Ugochi has worked with conviction.
Even though things are slowly changing, in India too white girls with blue eyes are preferred over black women. But some designers who have an artistic side like girls who defy conventional good looks and thats where I get accepted, she states.
Despite the sometimes hard times she faces, this graphic designer who also dabbles in fashion designing, came here to study and finds the sari, lehengas and anarkalis a treat to wear.
The outfits here have a strong cultural connotation like back home our national dress and patterns. I do miss home and the warmth of my parents home, but I left my country to see the world and experience various cultures. Delhi can be tough to navigate as people have already placed you in a particular category of a person you cant trust based on skin colour, which is not necessarily correct, she adds.
Being a thin and lanky girl, Ugochi was often told to try modelling growing up in Lagos, where she developed a love for structures and for designing complex spaces. Architecture is a lot like fashion, it is all about the construction and a novel idea thats why interiors have fascinated me as you can create magic just by the power of inventive thinking, she concludes.
