Nigerian-American celebrity stylist and creative director Brownie Brown is responsible for some of the most viral looks on the internet.
An avid sustainable thrifter since 2013, Brown has styled everybody from Marvel star Jonathan Majors to Afrobeats star Tems, the cast of Showtime‘s “The Chi,” and had her work featured in WWD and Vogue Australia. Throughout her notable career, Brown has collaborated with several major brands, including Pillsbury, Square, Meta, THE MET, Nasdaq, Netflix, Paramount, Essence, Adidas, GQ, Instacart and more.
Next week she will be launching a game-changing digital service, “Wear What You Have,” for fashion enthusiasts everywhere.
TheHub.news caught up with Brown to discuss her journey to becoming one of the most respected names in the fashion world as well as the inspiration behind her exciting new business venture.
“I feel like I’ve always, just because I grew up in Nigeria until I was eight, beautiful fashion, especially my parents, they always dressed up. They always had events, they always had parties, so I was always around it. I noticed it then, but then I really started to dive in when we came to America. I think when I was around eight, I was just cutting out my clothes and just sewing them back together and just expressing myself in that way, and I just loved doing it. I remember I have a specific memory of sitting in the laundry room. I had jeans. I had another top. I cut the jeans belt, I mean the top part of the jeans off and added the other top to it. Made a little halt to the top. So that’s one of my memories of really getting into it. And no one taught me how to sew. Just watching my mom men stuff and watching other people sew. I just picked it up like that,” she explained.
The stylist attributes her sense of style to her architect father, whose “polished” sense of style inspired her own. However, her father wanted her to pursue a career in dentistry, while her mother wanted her to train to be a nurse, but she decided neither was for her and started working on her passion “on the side.” After seeing her talent for her craft, her father relented…and the rest, as they say, is history.
Her voyage into the fashion world was sparked after she directed and styled a photo shoot with her friends in the hallway of her parents’ house in Virginia. This experience ignited a lasting passion for her craft, driving her forward even during challenging times.
Looking back on her earlier years, Brown recalls that her unconventional fashion choices were not always understood, but they did not thwart her love. After all, fashion is an expression of one’s self
“I would say I was one of those students where people didn’t really understand. I mean, they liked my outfit, but they were like, it was always, what are you wearing? I was always cutting stuff up so they didn’t get it back. Then they get it now,” she mused.
Diligently working behind the scenes, Brown remains unruffled when coming face to face with some of the world’s biggest stars.
In February 2023, Marvel actor Jonathan Majors graced the cover of EBONY’s digital cover. The star was sporting a shaggy petal-pink jacket, completely bare-chested, sitting atop a fancy rose-colored velvet divan. The photoshoot went viral. For Brown, it was just a regular day at the office, but nobody predicted the images would spark such an online frenzy.
“I didn’t know it was going to do that. I don’t think anyone knew it was going to do that, but he was incredible. One of my favorite people that we styled. I think he was great getting to the end. Yeah, I really enjoyed that. Shoot. It was nice,” she humbly states.
Citing Kollin Carter, Law Roach and Alexander Julian as her inspirations, Brown is adamant that experimentation and confidence are key, rather than dedication to follow the new trends or being too focused on blending in.
“I don’t think [people] should do what they don’t feel. If you actually feel like, okay, there’s something missing and I really want to discover my style and it’s important to them, I say go for it. Just try different things. You just don’t know. You don’t have to go along with the trends, which is very easy to do. It’s trying different things out and seeing what makes you feel good and see what you’re comfortable in because you don’t want to dress up and not feel your best. And clothes will change after you,” she shares.
“I’m telling you because me, most days I’m casual, but when I do dress up, it feels different. And dressing up doesn’t have to mean putting on a gown or a dress. It’s just putting on that statement piece. Because my style — I’m very, it’s plain, but then I’ll have a statement piece, jacket, shoe purse — something that sticks out and I feel good in it. It just makes you walk a different way and stand up a different way. So I’d say just play around and don’t be scared and don’t worry about people. No one’s thinking about you at all. Not people are so concerned with their own troubles and own business and whatever’s going on in their lives and they’re not really thinking about you. They might look at this guy with the flamingo jacket. ‘Oh my God, look at that guy with the flamingo jacket,’ and then they go home, and they’re just like, ‘Oh my God, I got to pay this bill. I got to do this. I got to this.’ They’re not really thinking about you for that long. Maybe a minute or less, just wear what you’re wearing and just keep it moving. No one’s going to remember. No one cares”
The average person spends $3,500 per year on clothes. Still, most people end up abandoning the majority of their closets. The average American is unlikely to seek the services of a stylist for fear of breaking the bank.
Now, Brown is preparing to change all of that by launching “Wear What You Have,” a new online styling service for every budget.
“The people I discovered just from styling and just from meeting different people that they only wear about 20% or less of what they have in their closet,” she explains. “I hear a lot of, ‘I don’t have anything to wear,’ ‘I don’t have this,’ and I’m just like, ‘No, you do have stuff to wear.’ So recently, on my Instagram, I’ve been dropping tips and styles, different ways you could style and wear what you already have, which I’m super passionate about. So, I’ve been testing it out. I’ve been going to different people’s closets, different clients, and basically just styling what they have and using that for whatever they have.”
After receiving positive feedback, Brownie says she decided to “share with the masses.”
“I decided what I’m going to do is make it a three-tier thing. The first tier is an hour with me, where you can ask me any style questions you want. It’s like, I’m yours for that 60 minutes. Go through whatever questions you have. The second tier is a virtual wardrobe styling. [That’s] a two hour session with me virtually. We’re in your closet, we’re styling your clothes, and I’m going to create a mood board for you, depending on the questions I asked you previously from the questionnaire. Then you’re going to keep that mood board and use it when you’re shopping or whenever you need it,” says Brownie.
“Then the third one, I’m actually there in person. This one is not going to be for everybody because I’m not trying to be in everybody’s house, but it’s for the few people that I decide to actually go into their closet and then it’s hands-on for three hours with me. The whole mood board thing, the whole questionnaire thing, everything is going to be about the same. And those are the three tiers that I’m going to have to offer. People that need help but they don’t want to keep shopping.”
Brown’s new all-inclusive service launches the week beginning, and Brownie promises that all of her clients will receive the celebrity treatment.
For the year ahead, her mission is crystal clear.
“In 2024, I’m working on just having absolute trust. Trust in myself, trust in God and trust that everything that’s for me is going to be for me and not worrying about anything. I think we spend a lot of time just worrying about what’s coming next and what’s going to happen with this, but it’s just pouring to myself some more and just doing what I need to do, being consistent, and that’s the plan. And with that, I think a lot of things just come from that.”
Head to www.brownie-brown.com to sign up for Brownie’s new service or to find out more information.
