New York-based celebrity stylist Fatima B’s early years were spent in Japan and a few other Asia countries in Asia thanks to her parents’ work at The United Nations before they settled in Harlem. Fatima’s sport of choice in high school was fashion. “You had to have the right Jordan’s and pieces, or it was lights out for your reputation.” It’s a cultural thing, she says, “We got everyday fly because that’s what we had to do.”
Fatima’s career started with a fortunate twist of events. First, she interned under Missy Elliot’s former stylist during the artist’s Adidas era, then worked with 50 Cent’s stylist during his early Vitamin Water days. Then, teen magazine Right On asked her to produce six pages of content every other month without any oversight. Right On couldn’t afford to compensate her with money; instead, they offered her the ability to create content, which is how in 2009, she became a young and upcoming rapper’s stylist, Nicki Minaj.
The former accounting firm receptionist sat with us as we dove into her exciting career – one where she travels the world, having been to Monaco, Senegal, Paris, and Milan this year alone, putting her stylistic touch on high-profile talent like Diddy, The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran, 21 Savage, Swizz Beats, Metro Boomin, and YG, the latter four being her current clients.
Let’s revisit the past talk about landing Nicki Minaj as your first client.
The entire situation happened so quickly. In 2009, when we first worked together at a photo shoot for Right On, Nicki had, like, 20,000 followers on Twitter, and I don’t believe Instagram was even a thing yet. When that shoot hit the web, Twitter went bananas. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the reaction we received; it was pandemonium. I suppose I wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming response because I wasn’t fully aware of the scale of her impact until that day. I recall her trying to reach out to me after that shoot, but I was under the weather and I wasn’t checking my email. I remember a tweet coming in from her saying, “Call Me,” and all her barbs were like, “Fatima, call Nicki.” After that, we worked together for the next 10 months until the Pink Friday Album dropped. It was an incredible experience because we were both walking into those rooms and experiencing the same things and emotions for the first time together. To say I helped shape someone who would become an icon is wild.
Your primary clientele seems to be artists in the Hip-Hop space. What is it about this genre of music and the artists that attract you?
The genre is my culture. It is what I’ve always known, what I grew up on, and what I’m a part of. It’s my language. Being the fan that I am of Hip-Hop and being able to relate to it has made it easier for me to translate an artist’s vision. With all the artists I’ve worked with past and present, my goal has always been to highlight their authentic selves, to help tell their story through clothes the way a costume designer tells a story through a character’s wardrobe in a movie.
If you could describe the style of 21 Savage, Diddy, and Swizz Beatz, three men you work with, what word would you use for each?
21 Savage would be mysterious because most people have difficulty identifying his personality, but it’s dark, grimy, and a mystery somewhere within. With Swizz, he’s like a young OG. He has excellent taste and seamlessly brings together that Bronx element to who he is today. I’ve only worked with Diddy once and being such a fan of the Bad Boy Enterprise, I tried to bring out the Diddy we know.
Let’s discuss your title as a Creative Director. How’d you grow into this and find your voice?
My big mouth has always had an opinion, and I’ve always shared it. Once people realized that’s what I was going to do and how it would be, they started listening and trusting me without question. I built friendships with many of the clients I’ve had/have, and they started asking for my input. I bought Nicki’s first blonde bob. Before that point, she had never worn a colored wig. The title of creative director wasn’t always on my resume, but that’s what I was doing. At first, people are apprehensive, as expected, but in due time the talent usually doubles back on my ideas.
I came across Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” video yesterday. Which instantly reminds me of my childhood. We don’t see Hip-Hop videos with that much creative directing or styling nowadays. Why?
I think we still see it. Then again, I believe Busta’s video budget was over $2 million, and artists aren’t getting that type of money for videos today. Shoutout to Hype Williams. I think the way artists present their styles has shifted to different settings, and maybe it’s not in videos anymore because people’s attention spans are shorter. Artists are putting more effort into what they wear and things like that. When 21 Savage, Metro Boomin’, and I worked on Savage Mode II, we produced a 10-minute trailer for the album rollout. Beyonce delivers the visuals along with MIA, Kendrick, and Travis Scott. Tyler the Creator has killed his videos. It’s happening!
