EP02 | Before He Dressed The Stars He Dressed The Dead

Brian Babu's first paying client could not see the work. Could not thank him. Could not post it. Could not recommend him to anyone. Could not complain about the fit or ask for a different colour. His first paying client was in a coffin. It was 2010. He had just finished high school and did not yet have an ID card. A neighbour called Catherine; a woman who made clothes for a living, for the living and for the dead; looked at him one day and said, you have a good eye for style. Come with me. A family had lost their brother. They needed him dressed. Brian walked into a shop on Tom Mboya Street and picked a navy blue suit. A light blue shirt. A maroon tie. A maroon pocket square. White socks. White shoes. Sixteen years later, he can still recite every single item. He was paid a thousand shillings and walked home. Think about what that work actually demands. You get one shot. There is no fitting, no adjustment, no coming back next week to try something else. If you get it wrong, it is wrong forever and nobody will ever tell you. You are working from a photograph and whatever the family tells you about who this person was. You have to interpret a human being you never met, and get it right on the first attempt. That is not styling. That is reading people. And he learned it before he was old enough to vote. #BuiltDifferent #FindingPurpose #BrianBabu #NaboCapital