Nigeria's fashion expert, Lexy Mojo-Eyes shares his long-kept secret about never dating models with Samod Biobaku

After 14 years of taking Nigeria to Milan, Paris & New York for fashion shows, Lexy Mojo-Eyes declares:

MODELS ARE NOT MY TYPE OF GIRLS

By Samod Biobaku

Sixthsense34@yahoo.com

Seventeen years ago, Lexy Mojo-Eyes had a dream and that dream was to become a thriving brand in the realm of marketing Nigerian models and designers to the rest of the world.

Today, that dream has assumed realistic dimension and Lexy Mojo-Eyes has emerged one of the most formidable forces to reckon with in Nigeria’s expanding fashion industry.

Interestingly, his passion for fashion has seen him comb the length and breath of countries like Paris, Milan and New York; cities considered the heart of modeling and fashion business.

One thing that has helped him stand out from the crowd is the level of discipline inherent in his ideals, principles and beliefs. However, while this might seem a blessing, it has also been a source of concern for the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of legendary Gold Limited.

In this interview at Simply Samad in Lagos, Lexy Mojo-Eyes traced the genesis of why a lot of people arrived that the erroneous impression that he is gay. The dark-skinned singer however, seized the opportunity to make it crystal clear that contrary to the consensus of many, he remains sexually straight and not a homosexual like many already assume. He also spoke about way to take the Nigerian fashion industry forward, the forthcoming World Fashion Week as well as other interesting issues. Excerpts:

Why don’t you start telling us how Legendary Gold Limited was born?

Legendary Gold Limited came about in 1995. Before then, I was in Benin where I was a broadcaster. By profession, I trained as a journalist. I was a broadcaster and I worked with Bendel Television in those days as a producer, presenter, announcer, radio DJ and all of that. I worked inn the FM station; Edo Broadcasting Service FM. While I was doing that, I had my own private company called Photogenic Palace in Benin at the time. We were into some of the things legendary Gold is into right now. In addition, we were into artiste management and video production. We were also organizing Edo/Delta Designer of the Year Award annually over there. But all the while, I had my heart in the Nigerian Fashion Show but I knew I needed to start from my immediate vicinity to know what the possible problems may be. I moved to Lagos in 1995 and I got legendary Gold started. We had our first Nigerian Fashion Show in 1997 so it took like two years for us to ut things together; to travel around the country, meet local designers. The idea of the Nigerian Fashion show is to orientate Nigerians on the need to look inwards; local fabrics, accessories and designs because we strongly believe that is the only way they can compete globally.

What did you study in school?

I studied Mass Communication. It’s the same thing. It’s along the same line. All I do is along PR, marketing branding and along Mass Communication; really!

But when your name comes up, what instinctively comes to mind is fashion

I know but people think I’m a designer. It’s a misconception. I’m not a designer. I’m not. My company promotes designers. My company has the Nigerian Fashion Show, the Nigerian Fashion Week, the Nigerian Model Award, the Nigerian Fashion Award. Those are our brands. Those brands create platforms for designers and models to excel. Also, we do not just create the platform for them locally. We also take them abroad because since 2000, we have been taking designers and models to Paris, Milan and New York to expose them internationally. What we do is that we are like a marketing company for designers. The reason people tend to think we are designers is because we are always with designers. I have a platform for all of them to excel. I have a platform for them to go and sell their products and I’ve worked with virtually all of them. I’ve worked with all of them at one time or the other.

The NTFS and the NFS

The Nigerian Television Fashion Show started about 5 years ago and that is not our bran. As for the Nigerian Fashion Show, which is ours, we have been here for 14 years now. What the Nigerian Television Fashion Show did was to take our name and put the word ‘television’ in between and people keep confusing them for us. A lot of designers who endorse their events only realize it’s not our event when they get there. A lot of people have come to me and said: ‘Ah! These people have taken you name… Take them to court.’ All I tell them is that the sky is wide enough for all the birds to fly. It’s not a big deal. They didn’t call it Nigerian Fashion Show. So let them do their own thing. It’s not a problem to me.

I always thought they shared the same owner.

That’s what a lot of people think. Most of the designers who endorse the Nigerian Television Fashion Show do it because at the back of their mind, they feel it’s our event. It is when they get there or start talking to them that they discover that it’s not a Lexy Mojo-Eyes project. The guy who owns the concept (Steve Ojo) is my friend. (Laughs) You know how these things are so I just let it go.

So, apart from the Nigerian Fashion Show, what other major project are you working on this year?

Three years ago, I was appointed into the international committee of the World Fashion Organisation. I’m one of the two Africans in the committee. We have professionals from around over 50 countries. The World Fashion Organisation is to fashion what FIFA is to football. They are based in California with offices around the world and being a member of the committee, we formulate policies for the World Fashion organization and that’s why I’ve not been around for quite a long time. I work more from Paris and New York in the last three years. The World Fashion Organsation organised the first World Fashion Week in New York. The Gala welcome is in September and you have over 50 countries that are participating. I’m in the core committee that is planning the World Fashion Week so that is the big project we have. Nigerian is just one of the 50 countries that are participating. We are coordination Nigeria’s participation. That’s on one side but most importantly; I’m on the core committee that is planning the event itself. That is the big project that we are planning. We decided to reschedule all our other projects. All our projects now come after the World Fashion Week; in November precisely. Nigerian Fashion Week is in November; between the 15^th and 19^th. For the World Fashion Week, I’m in the committee with other professionals around the world so I must live up to expectations. I’m not just taking care of Nigeria in the whole project. It’s a global thing but most importantly, I’m sort of coordinating the whole of the continent for the World Fashion organization. That’s why I’m everywhere. I was in Ivory Coast shortly before the war broke out.

Still on your days as a kid, did your mum try to truncate your artistic expression?

That was one of the good things for me. I always give my mum all the credit for my life and my future as well. That is one way I have learnt to bring up children. My mum would guide you basically on the things that you should know and leave you to make up your mind yourself. You have no idea what that did for me while I was growing up. Yes, I was into babes, rocking and partying but one thing I didn’t do was smoke. I never smoked. If I needed to drink, it was always at its minimum. I never got drunk. Do you know why? I kept telling myself that my mum would not like it. I always knew that if I smoked, my mum would not like it so I stay away from it. Ironically, she was not on my case so I only did those things I knew would make her proud of me. Those were the only things I did.

I was always in the midst of friends who had rich fathers and were already driving even while we were in secondary school. Strangely, their parents were very strict and they were the ones that smoked marijuana and other stuff. We partied and hung out with babes together but I never smoked. I never touched it because I could not afford to make my mum unhappy. That guided me and the same applied to my late sister. She was different from other girls. When the time was right, she had a boyfriend and I remember that she only had two men in her life because she married her second boyfriend. Now, I’m bringing up my children as well and I’ve always wanted to raise them along that line.. I will guide them; tell them what was right and what was wrong but I would make sure they made their decisions themselves. They must have strong character to understand the kind of decisions they made and the implications. They must also understand that whatever comes out from their decision, they must be responsible for it. They must stand by their decisions – right or wrong. To a great extent, this helped me. She did not cage me in any way.

How do you cope with your female fans; especially those who want to take their admiration to the next level?

Right from when I started in Benin; where I started fashion shows, modeling and all that, one thing I told myself was that I would never go out with a model.

Really?

I will never go out with a model or a designer. Yes! I mean it. I will never go out with a model or a designer. I will never have an intimate relationship with those I work with.

…but the African man would say where you work is where you eat?

Look at it this way. For me, it is strictly business. There are so many girls out there who are not in the modeling or fashion industry. There are also a lot of admirers out there who are also not in the industry. Why not close your eyes to the industry and face the ones out there. That’s the way I’ve always seen it.

Many would salute your level of discipline

That was why it was in the press sometimes when some people began suspecting that this guy must be gay. Even though they know I’m married, some still believe I’m bisexual. Do you know why? No model has ever come to say that Mr. Lexy has slept with me or has toasted me or done this or done that. You know that once you start sleeping with models, you become Lexy. So, for designers and models, the respect is there and the press has over the years, waited for a one scandal or the other. Nothing has happened and whenever they talk to the models, they say they don’t have any detailed answer. At a point, the media assumed that I was not interested in women and that maybe it was the men I was interested in. The guys in the industry that are gay keep making passes at me with the hope that I’m gay. This is an open avenue to let everybody know the truth. I am not gay and I don’t have any problem against guys or girls that are homosexual because they are all my friends. This is fashion; around the world, a lot of my best friends in Paris and Milan are gay. They are my good friends but I don’t have any problem with them.

However, personally, I do not have anything against them but there’s a part of me that sees it as despicable. I feel it’s not healthy but I respect them. I don’t have any problem with them. I don’t discriminate against them. I’m happy for them as long as they’re happy with what they do. But for me, I want people to understand that I am not a homosexual. I like babes and I go out with babes.

Maybe you should go ahead and describe your kind of babe

I like the real African woman. I think that has also helped me because I don’t like models.

But they are very attractive

But they are skinny and I don’t like skinny girls. I like the real African woman; one who has the right curves in the right places.

Favourite musician

I like 2 Face, P-Square, Timaya and M.I. I like 2 Face in particular because he’s very humble. That’s why he will remain there.

Favourite actor

I have a lot of them and they are all my friends as well.