Award winning actress, Seyi Asekun, tells Ademola Olonilua about her fashion style
Do you think you are a fashionable person?
Yes I believe I am a very fashionable
person because I know that when I am meant to attend events, I have to
look good. I know that I always have to look my best so that if I meet a
fan or anyone I know, I would not have to avoid them based on my
appearance; looking good matters to me.
Do you believe you are fashionable just because you are an actress?
My career has only enhanced my fashion
sense but I have always paid attention to my appearance even before I
became an actress. For instance, sometimes I want to leave my house
without using make-up but I know people will see me and recognise me and
I do not want them to say that I look better on screen than in reality;
so I would apply some make-up on my face.
Are you a trend setter or would you rather follow trends?
I am just someone that likes being comfortable, neat and sharp regardless of the trend.
How would you describe your style?
My style is simple and presentable. My watchword is comfort. I must be very comfortable in anything I wear.
What do you consider when stepping out?
I always have it at the back of my mind
that I would be seen and recognised, so I make sure I look breathtaking.
Before I became an actress, I could wear a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and
pack my hair if I wanted to go out but now, I cannot do that. Even when
I wear flat shoes, I make sure I wear a wig so that I do not look too
casual or plain. I endeavour to be the cynosure of all eyes.
What kinds of clothes are you comfortable wearing?
It may sound cliché but I love wearing jeans. I also love wearing short skirts, but not miniskirts.
Do you love short skirts because you believe you have hot legs?
I don’t think there is anything special
about my legs. In fact, for a long time, I did not like wearing anything
short because I believed I had scars and I did not like exposing my
legs. I fell in love with skirts because I attended Babcock University
and it was mandatory to wear skirts in school. I remember when I was in
100 Level, I wore a short skirt to the cafeteria one Saturday and a male
friend told me that he loved my legs. I was quite shocked. He said he
liked my legs because there were no scars or blemish on them. I think it
was what boosted my confidence in wearing short skirts. As I grew
older, I realised that people do not pay attention to scars on other
people’s body especially if your skin is well taken care of. If your
skin is glowing and it is clean, people tend to look past every other
thing.
What would you never be caught wearing?
I cannot really say because if I had a
very hot body, I would probably wear things that are revealing. Right
now, I doubt I can wear revealing clothes till I have the body to pull
it off.
But ladies that are not as curvy as you are still wear revealing clothes…
I am very conscious of my body,
especially my stomach. I had a photo shoot recently and I had to go on a
strict diet because of it. I lost a considerable amount of weight and
my stomach was really flat. I did the photo shoot exposing my tummy and I
felt good about it but now, I have started eating carbohydrates again. I
don’t think I can try such a photo shoot anymore. That is why I said
that if I had the body for it, there are things I can wear but because
of the kind of body that I have, there are a lot of clothes that I run
away from. I don’t want to show my protruding tummy.
If you want to look good for your lover, what do you wear?
Behind closed doors, I can wear anything.
If we are going out, I can wear anything modest as far as I am looking
neat and I think I am sexy enough for him or anybody.
Asides from the diet you embarked on to reduce your belly, what other things do you do to keep in shape?
Sometimes I try to skip food but the
thing about staying fit to have a hot body is that it is a lifelong
exercise. I don’t have such patience. I could follow a particular
workout routine for about a month but if I stop it for about a week, I
return to my old habits. What I do is to watch what I eat and try as
much as possible to stay off rice because I notice that it enlarges a
person’s waist line. The major thing I am conscious of is reducing my
carbohydrate intake.
Which part of your body do you see as your asset?
Probably my eyes but I did not know that
they were big until 2001. When I was graduating from secondary school,
we normally had a book, where students put their names, bio, and names
of their crushes among other information. I stumbled on someone’s slum
book and when I opened it, the person wrote that I had sexy eyeballs and
she liked it. The person was not even my friend and I was shocked. For a
long time, I always stared in the mirror to see what is sexy about my
eye balls. As I grew up, I realised that my mother also had big eye
balls and I began to appreciate it. Lately, people also say that they
like my dentition.
If you had an opportunity to alter your body in anyway, what would you like to change?
I will get rid of my tummy. I will also ask to have the kind of bums Kim and Khloe Kadarshian have.
What is your fashion weakness?
Before I started acting, I used to love
shoes a lot until I noticed that while on set, before the camera goes
down to the feet, it takes time so I changed my fashion fetish. I
switched to what I needed most and they are clothes. I still love shoes
and if I had my way, I would keep buying but because of necessity, it
has changed to clothes.
Entertainers often complain that the bulk of their revenue is spent on clothes. Do you share such plight too?
Yes I do and the truth is that if you are
not careful, you will not have any savings. What we do is showbiz and
our appearance matters a lot. You do not want to keep repeating the same
set of clothes. It consumes a huge part of our income.
How come you do not have any tattoos?
I don’t like it because I don’t like pain
at all. The same ear piercing that was given to me since I was a baby
is the only one I have now. I have not added any other piercing to it.
Inasmuch as I admire it on people, I can never have one because of the
pain. I also do not like the fact that I will be stuck with a drawing on
my skin probably for the rest of my life.
What is the most expensive fashion item you own?
I have about two bags that cost over hundred thousand naira. I got them as a gift.
Is it mandatory for you to apply make-up before you step out of your house?
When stepping out now, it is mandatory
because of my job. Even if I do not do anything, I will want to make
sure that my eyebrow is properly done. I cannot go out without make-up.
