admin
February has been tagged the ‘Black History Month’, in recognition of this, we have decided to celebrate the first model that impacted the fashion business with her dark excellence, Alek Wek.
The 40 year old South Sudanese model was born in Wau, South Sudan fled the common war in her nation to London in 1991 at 14 years old. She was found in 1995 at an open air advertise in Crystal Palace, London by a Models 1 scout. Her profession topped not long after with an appearance in the music video for “GoldenEye” by Tina Turner that year.
Alek began fashion modelling and was signed to Ford Models in 1996. She also appeared in the “Got ‘Til It’s Gone” music video by Janet Jackson that year and was named “Model of the Year” in 1997 by MTV. She also became the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle that year.
She appeared in dozens of advertising campaigns, on the cover of several magazines and has walked for numerous major fashion brands in the UK and the United States making her the first dark-skinned model in the high fashion industry.
Oprah Winfrey once hailed Alek by saying “if Alek had been on the cover of a magazine when I was growing up, I would have had a different concept of who I was.”
In any way you find yourself different, make sure you appreciate it and use it to impact your community positively.
We Celebrate This Game Changer…
