When golf and fashion play perfectly together

Barclays Bank of Kenya CEO Jeremy Awori (left) and fashion designer Nick Ondu at the Muthaiga Golf Club on March 22, 2018 during the unveiling of the Kenya Open ceremonial winner's jacket. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The winning jacket was designed by up-and-comer Nick Ondu of Nick Ondu Sartorial.

  • With seven years industry experience, his focus is menswear — tailored, bespoke and made to measure.

There is something very mysterious to Kenyans when it comes to fashion. The word automatically conjures up images of men in skirts, a row of skinny Caucasian women with a beauty we do not understand, and a whole lot of crazy stuff. It then figures  that the combination of golf — yes, golf, that sport regarded as so conservative no one stays up late or wakes up early to watch it  until Tiger Woods flipped and spun golf on it’s behind — and fashion, attracts a derisive snort. Take it back.

The Kenya Open aka the Barclays Kenya Open (BKO) 2018 turned 50 with style, with the genius idea of designing our first ever winner’s jacket locally. By local designers. Better yet, they did not do this by announcing a tender. Instead, they turned it into a competition.

Here is how serious the affair was. John Kaveke, Special Recognition Award of the Year, Kenya Fashion Awards 2017, Kokeb Pinard of Koki Designs, EA Fashion Designer of the Year, Kenya Fashion Awards 2017, Vivienne of Vivienne Taa Fashion House, former model turned ready-to-wear designer and SOYA’s first ever fashion partner, Tshilidzi Phaladi of Chilidzy-Dee-Designs, a South African fashion designer and Stephen Ounga of Monoxrome Nairobi stylist turned fashion designer all participated. 

BRILLIANT DESIGNER

The winning jacket was designed by up-and-comer Nick Ondu of Nick Ondu Sartorial. With seven years industry experience, his focus is menswear — tailored, bespoke and made to measure. He is constantly described as a designer to watch.

The selection process included yet another brilliant local designer with a knack for surprises, Monica Kanari of Occasions & Days. Her latest collection was boldy a sexy attire that would not look out of place on a Rihanna video. Or being Riri, just a walk to her car!

The 60 per cent vote of the judges is critical because they look at the stitching, finishing, durability, cut and fabric choices.

It is a winners jacket after all. It’s not just supposed to look good, it is, if the Augusta Green Jacket is anything to go by, the beginning of a Kenyan legacy. 

Why is this important, you ask? The culture of a winning jacket; I mean Masters Green Jacket as eventually established by one of the world’s most legendary clubs, Augusta National Golf Club, began in the 1937. But it wasn’t until 1949 when the first winner got his own, leading to awarding of past winners retrospectively.

GREEN JACKET

The rules are simple. There must always only be one Green Jacket circulating at any given time. How rare? An avid golfer bought one in a Toronto thrift shop for $5. It was later auctioned off for a rather significant sum of $140,000. The identity of the jacket owner remains unknown but interior narrows it down to the 1950s.

Only four Masters jackets have ever been publicly auctioned. A title winner gets measured for their own jacket. But since no one knows who the winner will be, the club borrows an existing Green Jacket from someone of a similar build on the day for ceremonial purposes. Green Jackets must never be worn in public. The winner must wear it anytime they visit the club. The owner can only take it out the club premises during his 12-month reign. Custody of the Green Jacket lies not in the champion, however deserving, but the club. 

Of course the jacket is not in way the only  award. It is, however, about status. Only the BKO winners will be in red. The eye will not miss this reward.

KENYA OPEN

 Launched with fanfare, the Kenya Open is unlikely to suffer the fate of the disappearing significance of the Green Jackets over time. The local Red Jacket will be steeped in accomplishment from the get-go; it’s concept and importance respected. Besides, it gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘bespoke.’ This truly IS one of a kind. 

Perhaps I appreciate this more because I am a magazine editor. Stories like this become part of culture. In 2007 the controversial Green Jacket appeared on the cover of Golf International magazine on athletic British model (polo, horse racing and golf), Jodie Kidd. She wore the Green Jacket. Nothing but the Green Jacket.