A Ugandan hat designer exciting crowds in the UK
Miss Uganda UK, Gladys Kyomuhangi (L) and another model show off LinmiR pieces. Inset is Mirembe with her two sons, who are models, at the BEFTA awards, 2012. Courtesy Photos.
What you need to know:
For Linda Mirembe, holding an IT degree was simply not enough. She sought her passion in fashion and emerged a reknowned Ugandan hat maker in the diaspora, writes Enock K Kimbowa.
For most people, a career is a job and just a means to earn a living, so, a career in IT would be the ultimate. Getting the know-how of the latest gadgets on their fingertips and be paid for it is what this 3G generation’s dreams are made of. For milliner (read maker of women’s hats) Linda Nakimbugwe Mirembe that is exactly what she had become but she still did not feel at home. To her, a job had to be a passion, doing something close to her heart.
She found the comfort of her heart after relocating from Kampala to Stockholm, from Stockholm to London. After having her third son, she undertook a course in millinery (which is hat-making for the rest of us) with a trainer who has the British royal family on her list of clients. Three years later, she founded LinmiR Millinery. Two years down the road, as she prepares to launch her very first ready-to-wear headwear range, The LinmiR(derived from her two names Linda Mirembe) Olivia Headband, as well as showcase her 2013 collection, the hat designer has won the Designer of the Year award at the 2012 BETTFA Awards and is set to grace the pages of the prestigious Vogue Magazine. She is definitely one of the most promising and exciting Ugandan fashion designers in the UK.
Early motherhood
Linda’s road to the career that she is passionate about has not been as straight as she would have wanted it to be. She got pregnant with her first born while in Senior Six at Nabisunsa Girls’ School and her academic life was thrown into disarray as her career aspirations were taken over by early motherhood. Her in-laws decided she relocate to Sweden but that still had more to do with her life as a wife than a career woman. “I moved to Sweden with my son to join my husband and his family. By then, I was hardly thinking of what I wanted to do in life. Even when I settled down in Sweden and went back to school and studied IT, it was more about survival than passion.”
When the second child came along, she was further confined to full-time motherhood which, out of desire to find something to do, she had to juggle with her studies. While in Sweden, she studied Computer Programming and Multimedia. “When I went to school at the time, I just wanted to go back to school and get a profession” she says.
Following the dream
She completed the course but did not feel comfortable with it. In the meantime her two sons, Jett and Jeff, were working as catwalk models so while she went to college, she was also managing their modeling careers. “I was always given passes to attend their shows so I was privileged to attend a Jean Paul Gaultier show. This triggered my passion for the fashion industry and made me realise how close I was to realising my own dream of joining the fashion world.” The dream became a reality when she moved from Stockholm to London to join her siblings. “Much as I had always wanted to study fashion designing over the years, there was no school anywhere near where I lived in Sweden and that had been one of the reasons I had ended up studying IT instead.”
Three sons later, her dream of a career in fashion was back in sight when she enrolled for a hat-making course for private lessons with the milliner who made hats for the Late Queen Mother, Elizabeth, mother to the British mornach. “I always felt that this would be the right thing for me,” she says, “so when the opportunity arose I just went for it.”
Career-changing opportunity
Her fashion design career-changing moment came when she took part in the Young Designers Awards’ Radical Awards in UK. “I had only just started LinmiR at the time. All I had running was the website, www.linmir.com which was also still being developed. This was my very first fashion event. It gave me the feel of being directly involved in a fashion event as a designer and the first reaction to my products. I read about the awards online and got in touch with the organiser who was very kind, actually now we are very good friends.” Apart from winning her a new fan base, her participation also won her an opportunity to showcase at the Maryland Fashion Week in the US last year. Since then, she has taken part in a number of both UK and international fashion events including London Fashion Week’s Fashion Finest, Mahogany Bridal Show, Out of Africa in Dublin and 50 Years of Fashion, which was a fashion segment at the Ug@50-UK to celebrate 50 years of Uganda’s independence in London. She was also one of the designers
who dressed up Miss Uganda UK 2012 contestants and the winner, Gladys Kyotungire, is the face of the LinmiR Olivia Headband range.
The Hat Choice
It is one thing studying fashion design as we know it; creating expensive suits and trend-setting frocks. It is a totally different thing choosing to study making hats and nothing else. So why did Mirembe choose the latter as opposed to the former that seems to characterise every aspiring designer’s wish? “Well, I don’t wear necklaces and I don’t wear earrings so when it comes to accessories, I have always expressed myself with headwear from my teenage years. I had already taught myself how to customise hair combs with things like beads just to make them look better and unique, so, this was not very far from my dream.”
Three years later, she started LinmiR Millinery, creating mainly bespoke hats, fascinators, and bridal wear, and two years later she has become an international milliner. The cost of her hats range from £15 (about Shs.60,000) upwards depending on the design and material. Orders are made online through her website linmir.com, via email or phone.
The winning formula
How has living abroad been significant to Linda’s career in fashion then? “Of course living abroad helped a lot. It gives you more exposure and more options because of its diversity. One person might not like your designs but then the next one is the direct opposite, then the next one will advise you on how you can improve on them. It is definitely easier to find support in a city like London but it is still all down to hard work and persistence. If you know you are good at something, don’t give up on it. Your breakthrough could be just a few minutes of extra work away.”
Bringing LinmiR home
“When I started LinmiR, it was so much about creating beautiful pieces. I have gone on to make a business out of it; register the business, get a website for it, publicise it. I just want the brand to be known as I believe that my pieces are beautiful and unique. When you are doing something you are passionate about, it is so much more than just the money although you have got to agree that’s what keeps every business afloat,” she says.
Until now, fashionistas in Uganda may only have read about LinmiR in the media and seen Mirembe’s designs on her website or social network albums. That may not change entirely but as she pursues her ambition of making the brand more prominent, she is also establishing an outlet in Kampala, Shop Number 31, Grand Imperial Shopping Mall, where people will be able to place orders for her creations from.
“I have had so many enquiries from Uganda on where people can find my pieces. This is my answer to that. I am bringing LinmiR home and I am sure people in Uganda will enjoy my unique designs considering the many events on the calendar especially weddings and introductions.” She adds that she is also looking forward to being part of fashion events in Kampala so she can “share her passion and experience so far”. LinmiR will be hosting an official product launch for the LinmiR Olivia Headband as well as showcase the entire 2013 collection at Nile Bar in London on April 11.
