Big Brother: All eyes on Namatovu
Aug 06, 2007
BIG Brother is watching once again. And it’s not your Gaetano any more. Rather, 26-year-old Maureen Namatovu is the girl to keep the eye on. She’s Uganda’s representative in the ongoing second episode of Big Brother Africa.
By Nigel Nassar
BIG Brother is watching once again. And it’s not your Gaetano any more. Rather, 26-year-old Maureen Namatovu is the girl to keep the eye on. She’s Uganda’s representative in the ongoing second episode of Big Brother Africa.
A professional fashion designer, Namatovu has walked a line full of glamour, and made it big in some way, the reason our fingers should be crossed as we wait to see her bring home the highly coveted $100,000 (sh175m), which she’s vying for with 11 other contestants.
She could have become Miss Uganda in 2001. But much as she was beaten to the crown, Namatovu was named Miss Congeniality.
She also designed a dress for the Nnabagereka, queen of Buganda. The dress turned out to be the queen’s trophy wear.
But what would you expect from an urbanite old girl of the glamour-reputed Namasagali College?
Anxiety gripped Ugandan Big Brother fans on Sunday as everyone wondered who Uganda’s representative in the reality TV show would be.
The clock ticked away as housemates, one after another, sauntered into the Big Brother Africa2 house.
No one knew it would be the lean and talkative fashion designer in Namatovu, who finally made a grand appearance at 9:22 pm.
She was the eighth contestant to enter the house.
Clad in a trendy black dress, spotlighted by some white fabric, her appearance clearly made a fashion statement, further bringing out her urbanite fashion appeal.
And she has an instant magnetism which attracts people towards her — you should have seen how the male housemates almost tripped over each other trying to hug her and show some presence.
Namatovu has since entering the house been preferred by many, especially Code, Malawi’s housemate, who has since taken to finding out more about the Ugandan beauty. Ghana’s Kweku has also been showing sly interest in her, while Zimbabwe’s Bertha has made friends with her.
The SMS strap-line is also enlisting props for her from different countries, all hinting about her beauty and amiability, although she’s still somewhat reserved.
Meanwhile, male Ugandan fans at different Big Brother television spots in town are guarding her jealously.
They jeer so hard whenever a male housemate is coming onto her so close.
That’s what we’ve seen of her on TV so far. But who exactly is Maureen Namatovu?
A resident of Ntinda, Namatovu grew up a curious kid.
All through her free time, she would either be drawing pictures of dolls, sewing tiny dresses and shirts, or dancing. She asked her parents such hard questions as, “How is a baby created?â€
“And my dad would beat about the bush,†quipped Namatovu in an earlier interview she had with The New Vision.
Such is the curiosity that made her become an exceptionally discerning fashion student at Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore, one of the best fashion schools in southern India.
A lover of African art, Namatovu always sought to design outfits that portrayed the beauty of Africa and its people, a thing that forced her to train four African models to showcase her creations whenever she had to.
And during a fashion and design awards ceremony at their institute, she beat 29 finalists to two awards in the categories of Best Accessories and Jury Special awards, ultimately getting christened as “a designer in her own league†by an Indian newspaper.
It’s that breakthrough that made her win a designing stint with Colourlines Incorporate, an export house that manufactures clothing for children in India.
Namatovu highly believes in her academic credentials, especially, knowing that she was one of the best graduates of her class.
No wonder when she returned to Uganda after her graduation in 2004, she wasn’t scared of competing in a fashion industry so monopolized by such big-shot fashion names as Sylvie’s and Arapapa.
Her intention upon return was to teach impoverished children art and design skills. But when she sold her idea to the queen of Buganda, the respected royal asked her to design for her a dress. “It was to demonstrate my prowess,†said Namatovu.
As her first out-of-school assignment, it made her nervous, but she managed. The two-piece black fabric spotlighted by glittering embroidery did not only explore the beauty and elegance of the Queen, but also accentuated her royal dignity.
It is the dress she wore at the 2004 Pearl or Africa Music Awards.
For Namatovu, it was a major breakthrough – thanks to Helen, her father’s workmate, who introduced her to the queen.
She attributes her success to her father, Ambassador William Matovu, an employee of the Buganda Government, who made the right choice for her to join fashion school. When she opened up Oval Lines, a fashion and design workshop at Kabalagala, she knew it was entry into the fashion world.
It is the creations from her rather humble beginning that she showcased for the first time at Club Silk Royale’s 10th anniversary last year on November 25.
Under the theme “Light and Sexy,†the creations were made of light fabric and exhibited a sexy appeal typical of the theme she chose.
With a hands-on outlook, Namatovu was one of the leggy models on the catwalk, modeling her own creations – and her catwalk wasn’t bad either.
Before entering the Big Brother House, Namatovu has been working on transforming the sash for Gomesi lovers to avoid its complexity that requires one to look for a person from the traditional wear generation to tie it around the waist.
A multi-talented lady, Namatovu takes some time off taking photographs and writing poems and drawing as a way of helping her explore her creative side.
She said the simple personality in her is portrayed by her love for colours and through her sketchy drawings that he develops into fashionable creations.
Namatovu’s many abilities are what the continental television audience should keep an eye on as one of the attributes that could make her bring home the main jackpot.
At Namasagali College, she excelled in ballet, contemporary and tango, dance skills the television audience is yet to feast its eyes on.
In fact it is the reason her roles in the school’s productions like Bazook and Great Caesar were mostly musical.
That is why it was hard for her to make up her mind on either joining a dance school in Wolver Hampton in the United Kingdom, or fashion designing in India.
Maybe her father’s pick was to see her to greater heights. Now that she’s amassing a more pronounced celebrity status in the Big Brother house, her fashion dream can well be termed as “fulfilledâ€.
Tune in to DStv’s Channel 37 to keep track of her progress as she walks her way to becoming a millionaire.
BIG Brother is watching once again. And it’s not your Gaetano any more. Rather, 26-year-old Maureen Namatovu is the girl to keep the eye on. She’s Uganda’s representative in the ongoing second episode of Big Brother Africa.
A professional fashion designer, Namatovu has walked a line full of glamour, and made it big in some way, the reason our fingers should be crossed as we wait to see her bring home the highly coveted $100,000 (sh175m), which she’s vying for with 11 other contestants.
She could have become Miss Uganda in 2001. But much as she was beaten to the crown, Namatovu was named Miss Congeniality.
She also designed a dress for the Nnabagereka, queen of Buganda. The dress turned out to be the queen’s trophy wear.
But what would you expect from an urbanite old girl of the glamour-reputed Namasagali College?
Anxiety gripped Ugandan Big Brother fans on Sunday as everyone wondered who Uganda’s representative in the reality TV show would be.
The clock ticked away as housemates, one after another, sauntered into the Big Brother Africa2 house.
No one knew it would be the lean and talkative fashion designer in Namatovu, who finally made a grand appearance at 9:22 pm.
She was the eighth contestant to enter the house.
Clad in a trendy black dress, spotlighted by some white fabric, her appearance clearly made a fashion statement, further bringing out her urbanite fashion appeal.
And she has an instant magnetism which attracts people towards her — you should have seen how the male housemates almost tripped over each other trying to hug her and show some presence.
Namatovu has since entering the house been preferred by many, especially Code, Malawi’s housemate, who has since taken to finding out more about the Ugandan beauty. Ghana’s Kweku has also been showing sly interest in her, while Zimbabwe’s Bertha has made friends with her.
The SMS strap-line is also enlisting props for her from different countries, all hinting about her beauty and amiability, although she’s still somewhat reserved.
Meanwhile, male Ugandan fans at different Big Brother television spots in town are guarding her jealously.
They jeer so hard whenever a male housemate is coming onto her so close.
That’s what we’ve seen of her on TV so far. But who exactly is Maureen Namatovu?
A resident of Ntinda, Namatovu grew up a curious kid.
All through her free time, she would either be drawing pictures of dolls, sewing tiny dresses and shirts, or dancing. She asked her parents such hard questions as, “How is a baby created?â€
“And my dad would beat about the bush,†quipped Namatovu in an earlier interview she had with The New Vision.
Such is the curiosity that made her become an exceptionally discerning fashion student at Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore, one of the best fashion schools in southern India.
A lover of African art, Namatovu always sought to design outfits that portrayed the beauty of Africa and its people, a thing that forced her to train four African models to showcase her creations whenever she had to.
And during a fashion and design awards ceremony at their institute, she beat 29 finalists to two awards in the categories of Best Accessories and Jury Special awards, ultimately getting christened as “a designer in her own league†by an Indian newspaper.
It’s that breakthrough that made her win a designing stint with Colourlines Incorporate, an export house that manufactures clothing for children in India.
Namatovu highly believes in her academic credentials, especially, knowing that she was one of the best graduates of her class.
No wonder when she returned to Uganda after her graduation in 2004, she wasn’t scared of competing in a fashion industry so monopolized by such big-shot fashion names as Sylvie’s and Arapapa.
Her intention upon return was to teach impoverished children art and design skills. But when she sold her idea to the queen of Buganda, the respected royal asked her to design for her a dress. “It was to demonstrate my prowess,†said Namatovu.
As her first out-of-school assignment, it made her nervous, but she managed. The two-piece black fabric spotlighted by glittering embroidery did not only explore the beauty and elegance of the Queen, but also accentuated her royal dignity.
It is the dress she wore at the 2004 Pearl or Africa Music Awards.
For Namatovu, it was a major breakthrough – thanks to Helen, her father’s workmate, who introduced her to the queen.
She attributes her success to her father, Ambassador William Matovu, an employee of the Buganda Government, who made the right choice for her to join fashion school. When she opened up Oval Lines, a fashion and design workshop at Kabalagala, she knew it was entry into the fashion world.
It is the creations from her rather humble beginning that she showcased for the first time at Club Silk Royale’s 10th anniversary last year on November 25.
Under the theme “Light and Sexy,†the creations were made of light fabric and exhibited a sexy appeal typical of the theme she chose.
With a hands-on outlook, Namatovu was one of the leggy models on the catwalk, modeling her own creations – and her catwalk wasn’t bad either.
Before entering the Big Brother House, Namatovu has been working on transforming the sash for Gomesi lovers to avoid its complexity that requires one to look for a person from the traditional wear generation to tie it around the waist.
A multi-talented lady, Namatovu takes some time off taking photographs and writing poems and drawing as a way of helping her explore her creative side.
She said the simple personality in her is portrayed by her love for colours and through her sketchy drawings that he develops into fashionable creations.
Namatovu’s many abilities are what the continental television audience should keep an eye on as one of the attributes that could make her bring home the main jackpot.
At Namasagali College, she excelled in ballet, contemporary and tango, dance skills the television audience is yet to feast its eyes on.
In fact it is the reason her roles in the school’s productions like Bazook and Great Caesar were mostly musical.
That is why it was hard for her to make up her mind on either joining a dance school in Wolver Hampton in the United Kingdom, or fashion designing in India.
Maybe her father’s pick was to see her to greater heights. Now that she’s amassing a more pronounced celebrity status in the Big Brother house, her fashion dream can well be termed as “fulfilledâ€.
Tune in to DStv’s Channel 37 to keep track of her progress as she walks her way to becoming a millionaire.