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| Sexy Bryan |
Hot, sizzling and more-hot are just a few words to describe
Bryan Okwara, the first ever winner of the Mr. Nigeria pageant in 2007. As a
model, Bryan has graced the catwalk
of stages across Africa and America
and has served as ambassadors for brands such as Audi, Guiness, Knorr and
Globacom. He made it to the semi-final stage at the Mr. World pageant in 2007
and won the award for Most Outstanding African Male Model at the Nigerian
Models Achievers Awards 2010 and Model of the Year at the Mode Men Awards 2011.
His acute dancing skills were brought to the fore as a contestant in the
Reality TV Show, Celebrity Takes 2 and more recently, he has graced our TV
screens with movie roles in “Heart To Heart”, “I’ll Take My Chances” and yet to
be released “Weekend Getaway”, “True Citizens” and “Awakening”. The 6 feet 1” model with well-chiseled abs and an
attractive face is a favourite for magazine covers and has graced the covers of
magazines such as WOW, Bloke, Shakara and Greenland.
Five years after winning the title as Mr. Nigeria
,
Bryan Okwara is still being called “Mr. Nigeria
”.
At the E-center in Lagos
where we
meet for the interview, everyone still calls him that. He is friendly, greeting
the security guards, waiters and shop attendants who all seem to be familiar
with him. “Silverbird is my home”, he says about the organizers of the Mr.
Nigeria pageant whose office is just beside the E-center. We sit down to chat
at Koko Lounge which is quiet in the morning and I had an interesting time
getting to know Bryan
behind the
glam of lights and cameras.
The “Bryan of All Trades”
Tell me about your
journey across your different careers – TV presenting, modeling, acting…
I originally started out as a model, and coming from back
then, it wasn’t anything to look forward to. And then, I went in to NIGEZIE and
started working as a TV presenter for a couple of years before I went in for
Mr. Nigeria
pageant. Luckily I won and then moved on from there. For someone who is
multi-talented, you get to a point in life where you ask yourself that “Are you
going to die with all these talent, why don’t you just explore” so I came out
and here I am.
You’re quite famous
for TV presenting, modeling, dancing and acting. Which one do you feel more
comfortable with?
Surprisingly you haven’t mentioned it. I have a passion for
singing. If you hear me in the bathroom, you’d think I was Michael Jackson. My
manager is pushing me to go to the studio but I haven’t done anything yet. I’d
love to sing R&B.
So you’re still just
a bathroom singer (pun intended)
Honestly, I really love singing.
The Nigerian modeling
industry is more saturated now than when you started out with a lot of new
models and new faces. How do you remain relevant as a model now that you have
more people to compete with?
You have to be very consistent and hardworking. You’re not
getting any younger, any fitter, any faster so you have to train yourself. But
with us experienced models, we’ve been there and we know what the clients want
so it gives us a little bit of an edge over the new models.
Mr. Nigeria
You entered for the
Mr. Nigeria Pageant during its maiden edition which was a time when male
pageants weren’t as popular as they are now in Nigeria. What made you take that decision?
Initially, I didn’t want to go for it because I thought I
wasn’t cut out for it. The image I had of a Mr. Nigeria was someone who could
speak all the Nigerian languages, someone who was very Nigerian in his ways,
had tribal marks and stuff like that. But a lot of people advised me to go for
it. I went for it and saw that it was actually bigger than what people
perceived. They take someone who is an all-rounder. I won the competition not
by myself, but because a lot of people brought out things in me that I really
didn’t know that I had.
 |
| Bryan with some of his award |
What was your experience
like during your reign as Mr. Nigeria?
It was amazing. I won Mr. Nigeria
in 2007 and people still call me Mr. Nigeria
until tomorrow. I think I made a great impression on people but I really don’t
know what it is. Going for Mr. World was also a great experience for me.
Getting On to the Big
Screen
How did you get your
first movie role?
My first movie was shot in South
Africa called Heart To Heart. A lot of
people don’t know that. It was directed by Mr Remi, the CEO of Africa Awake in
2008. He got a group of people, gave me a crash course and handed me my first
script. It was a really good story but acting is very rigorous. I did my very
best. It was later when I came back to Nigeria
that I was casted for “I’ll Take My Chances”. They called me and offered me
this really huge role. Desmond actually took time off to coach me. I spent four
hours every day for two weeks learning a dance routine. It’s an accomplishment
that I was happy to be part of.
The majority of textiles used by Boxing Kitten are Ankara fabrics which
are 100% cotton veritable wax hollandais prints. Wax hollandaise is a
method using wax block prints and batiking techniques. Patterns are
printed in wax on long strips of cloth, which are then immersed in vats
of dye, usually indigo. The parts of the cloth not covered in wax absorb
the dye, laying down a basic pattern. The wax-printed fabric can be
sent through machines that partially break off the wax; since the wax
breaks arbitrarily, no two lengths of the cloth are quite alike, which
is what gives wax-print fabric its characteristic organic richness. Then
the fabric is pattern-printed with other colors, anywhere from one to
three times. This is a part of what makes each garment from Boxing
Kitten particularly unique. Maya A. Lake, designer of Boxing Kitten also
finds large inspiration from the vibrant prints and irregularities of
the fabric, which is why she uses it so enthusiastically. The fabric is
largely bought, worn and marketed in Western African countries.
