The beauty queen behind Glitz By Nalu

Danieline Moore at her Glitz By Nalu Collections store in Kamwokya Kisementi.

What you need to know:

  • Danieline Moore has come to be the face of glamour in Kampala through her store Glitz By Nalu Collections which has seen celebrities bring their best fashion foot forward at red carpet events recently.
  • Glitz by Nalu could be two months in Uganda but in the US where she lives, there are a couple of fashion stores with the name Nalu.
  • Unlike most of the fashionistas in Uganda, Glitz by Nalu outfits are made by tailors she contracts to make particular outfits.

You must have come across a Facebook update of a celebrity or so called slay queens of Kampala posting a photo from an event with the hastag dressed by Glitz by Nalu. The celebrity who does that the most is Singer Sheeba Karungi. However, Glitz by Nalu is more than just a hashtag. The brain child of Danieline Moore, the brand stands tall as the most popular clothing store in Kampala right now.
Located in Kamwokya Kisementi, Glitz by Nalu has fast become a trending name among affluent stylish women. When I met Moore, the first thing she said was she was shy and she not sure if she could pull off the interview. Ironically, one would think being a beauty queen must have made her bold. Moore who is from Liberia, was Miss Liberia US from 2007 to 2008.
Her heritage immediately arouses curiosity about the choice of name for her store, a thing she has become accustomed to. “ I’m married to a man from Masaka,” she says, but will not reveal her husband’s name. The couple who have been married for 13 years met in Washington DC where she often made trips for business and pleasure.
The name Nalu is the short form of her step-daughters’ name Naluzinda and because she likes glitz and glamour, she chose to name her business Glitz by Nalu.
“One would wonder why I name my business after my step daughter and not my biological son, but what they do not know is that my step daughter and I have come a long way and we have a good relationship,” Moore says, adding that Naluzinda is 13 years and she has raised her, so regards her as her real daughter. They live together in Washington DC.

Birth of Glitz by Nalu boutique
Glitz by Nalu could be two months in Uganda but in the US where she lives, there are a couple of fashion stores with the name Nalu. As a child, Moore and her late mother Oretha Sarr were drawn to fashion. She would watch her mother pick and pair clothes and sometimes go with her to sell second hand clothes. “I fell in love with clothes because of my mother. We had a shop that dealt in second hand clothes in Liberia. It was after she passed on in 2003 that I decided to move to the US,” says Moore.

After settling in the US, she opened up several fashion stores although the biggest was Nalu Boutique located in Washington DC. As a beauty queen, she was exposed to opportunities like doing commercials for different companies, she acted in Nigerian movies with stars like Jim Iyke and Ramsey Noah, among others. The movie that sold many copies was Crazy in Love where she co-acted with Jim Iyke. It was from endorsements that she got the money to keep her fashion dream alive. Her husband being Ugandan, she visited Uganda regularly and during her visits, she realised the big gap between unemployment in the youths of Uganda. At her store, she employes single mothers and young women who are done with school.

Do they dress only celebrities?
According to Moore, the store does not only dress celebrities but also other corporate figures such as members of Parliament and other women who desire to look great and stylish. “The reason why many think it is a celebrity fashion store, is because celebrities, unlike others, make sure they mention to whoever cares where they got their outfit from,” she says.
About whether celebrities and ‘slay queens’ pay for these outfits or whether they were given to them at no cost to promote the brand in return, Moore says it only applies to Sheeba who signed a two-year contract with them. The rest pay for the clothes and are good customers of the store.

Where they get the clothes
Unlike most of the fashionistas in Uganda, Glitz by Nalu outfits are made by tailors she contracts to make particular outfits. Ideas for some of her outfits are borrowed from international celebrities but most are her ideas because she has a strong background in fashion. “I work with tailors and designers in the US and at Kiyembe Lane in Kampala, among other places,” Moore states.
Her shop also sells ready to wear from jeans to tops which she identifies and directs her tailors to make copies of the same. Glitz By Nalu deal in gowns, office wear, sportswear, swim suite and bridal wears among others.

One of the biggest challenges Moore faces while doing business in Uganda is language barrier. “Since I work with tailors downtown, most of them cannot express themselves in English and I have not been in Uganda long enough to master the language. The other challenge is time management where contractors do not deliver materials or clothes in time,” she reveals.
She says during the end of the year, many clients make orders but it is embarassing that the clients get to wait for the outfits longer than expected.
With the reception the brand has received on social media for the last two months, Moore believes the fashion store will grow into one of the best and biggest fashion stores in the country, East Africa and if possible even Africa.

Beauty Queen
Moore believes that many opportunities came with her crown and she managed to be where she is and who she is today because of this. “As a beauty queen, I got deals to model for magazine covers, featured in movies, did commercials among other things that also exposed her to more opportunities. “As a former beauty queen, I managed to get many clients in Washington because they wanted to support the person that was once a beauty queen and I believe because of that, I managed to open Glitz by Nalu in Uganda.” The other reason she says that made her open a boutique in Uganda is that being married to a Ugandan, she always came to Uganda atleast every year.