Flashback friday: I move with the flow-Dj Moz

 Dj Moz. Photo: Courtesy

Fashion is cyclical. Which means that, to stay on top of the dressing game – and any game – a celeb should go with the flow.

Nothing illustrates this fact more than the Pulse issue of Friday, September 18, 2009. Flip to page 18, on the Style Up segment. The celeb who hogged that page that Friday was DJ Moz.

When the interviewer asked Moz to define his style, the spinning ace replied that his style is young and trendy, and “I tend to go with the flow”.

DJ Moz is a rarity in an industry that, ironically, thrives on cutting foes’ feet, like they’re Nebuchadnezzar’s ... made of clay. Yup, even in the gospel industry, there are foes.

But Moz has absolutely no airs ... and, sorry bro, hairs.

At the time of the interview, Moz said he had grown his signature dreads for six years. Do the math. If he had kept the dreads, they would’ve had a longer and more successful career than many fly-by-night gospel musicians.

“I keep the dreads clean by washing them once a week and redoing the lines,” he said, “which I think gives me swag. I like keeping them neat.”

In the pinup, DJ Moz was rocking dreads. But, from the receding hairline, the dreads were making short and quick work of the poor guy’s fast-endangered hairline.

Heck, nothing in the world can stop baldness whose time has come. And when the time came to holler, “So long” to his signature look, Moz did not cry over spoilt mane. He became his own damn Delilah.

Once again, Moz went with the flow, (southwards), of hair follicles. Smart dude. Sometimes a signature look has to give way to a new signature look. Especially if and when the forces of nature and nurture are working against you.

Loads of things have changed in Moz’s fashion game. Last time I checked, which was several Sundays ago, he was a sucker for more fitting outfits. The full break pants, the “street-sweeping” type, like the one he wore for the “Style Up” segment – with the pants’ legs bunching up at his shoes – are now, sigh, a thing of the past.

“I wear a lot of cargo pants and pilot shirts,” Moz said. “I like the side pockets on cargo pants, it makes them look both rough and cool. In fact, pairing cargo pants with pilot shirts is my favourite smart casual look.”

The pilot shirts have given way to more chic and trendier tops. And that’s a good thing. Because, for a celeb, overstaying at one spot, however sweet or successful it is, is akin to committing career suicide.

The music industry is just as cyclical as the fashion industry. You can’t rock the same style, do the same sound and dance the same old routines, and expect to set trends.

Moz’s style mantra, circa ‘09? “Be trendy, go with the times but don’t compromise who you are.”

Touché.

“Don’t. Compromise.”

Moz should drop that gospel truth more often to young cats in the gospel industry.

Flashback Friday: I move with the flow