Adut Akech

Adut Akech Bior[5] (/əˈdʊt əˈkɛtʃ/ ə-DUUT ə-KETCH;[2][6][7] born 25 December 1999) is a South Sudanese-Australian model. Akech made her fashion week runway debut as an exclusive in the Saint Laurent S/S 17 show and went on to close both their F/W 17 and S/S 18 shows as an exclusive.[8] In 2018, she was chosen as "Model of the Year" by models.com,[9] an honour which was repeated the next year.[10]

Adut Akech
Born
Adut Akech Bior

(1999-12-25) 25 December 1999[1]
South Sudan[2]
NationalityAustralian, South Sudanese
OccupationModel
Years active2016–present
Modeling information
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Hair colorBlack[3]
Eye colorBrown[3]
Agency

Early life

Akech was born in South Sudan (formerly part of Sudan), but was raised in Kakuma, Kenya. She was 7 years old when she moved away from Kenya along with her mother to Adelaide, Australia as South Sudanese refugees.[11] Akech has five siblings.[12] Akech was known as "Mary" in Adelaide, since Australian teachers were unable to pronounce her name.[13]

Career

Akech was introduced to the fashion industry by her family, and despite getting scouted multiple times by local modeling agencies when she was 13 and 14 years old, she started her modeling career at 16 years old, signing to her mother agency, Chadwick Models, in Sydney, Australia. Within the fashion industry, she prefers her birth name, Adut.

Akech's runway debut was in a local fashion show, put together by her aunt. She then went on doing Melbourne Fashion Week, where she took digitals for a Saint Laurent casting in Paris Fashion Week. After Melbourne Fashion Week, back home in Adelaide, she got a call from her agent confirming her for the Saint Laurent show, and took a flight to Paris a day after, making her major Fashion Week debut at Saint Laurent's S/S 17 show and signing to Elite Model Management in Paris. Since then, Akech has done 4 campaigns and closed 2 shows for Saint Laurent, 1 campaign and 2 shows for Valentino,[14][15] one campaign for Zara,[16] and one campaign for Moschino,[17] as well as walked for Alexander McQueen,[18] Givenchy,[18] Kenzo, Prada,[19] Lanvin, Loewe, Miu Miu, Acne Studios, Tom Ford, Tory Burch, Jason Wu, Bottega Veneta, Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, JW Anderson, Simone Rocha, Burberry, Off-white, Ellery, Jil Sander, Giambattista Valli, Proenza Schouler and Versace.

She has shot editorials for American Vogue, British Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris,[20] I-D Magazine, Le Monde M Magazine, Modern Matter, Numéro, The Gentlewoman, WSJ., T Magazine and Vogue Australia.[21] Akech has landed magazine covers for I-D Magazine, 10 Magazine Australia, Vogue Italia, British Vogue, Vogue Australia, Portrait, Elle Croatia, L'Officiel Singapore and Le Monde M Magazine.[22][23] She is set to feature in the 2018 Pirelli Calendar, shot by Tim Walker, alongside Sasha Lane, Lil Yachty, Sean Combs, Whoopi Goldberg, RuPaul, Adwoa Aboah, Naomi Campbell and Slick Woods.[24] She is set to be Melbourne Spring Fashion Week's ambassador for 2019.[25]

Akech is currently ranked in the "Top 50" on models.com.[26]

In 2019, Who magazine ran a feature about Akech but printed a picture of another model instead of her. Akech said that the error was "unacceptable and inexcusable" and felt that the "entire race has been disrespected." Who apologised to her for the error.[27]

Honours

She was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.[28]

On 2 December 2019, she won the 'Model of the Year' award at the British Fashion Awards in London.

References
  1. Akech, Adut. "The new face of David Jones, Adut Akech, writes a letter to her 6-year-old self - Vogue Australia". www.vogue.com.au.
  2. "Adut Akech Bior on Instagram: "As @vogueitalia April Issue cover girl, I've done a quick get to know me interview. I talk about things such as the start of my modelling…"". Instagram.
  3. "The Society Management – New York City". www.thesocietymanagement.com.
  4. "Adut Akech - Model".
  5. "Meet the new "black magic girl" Adut Akech Bior, who is raising the flag of Africa high". 19 July 2017. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  6. "Model Adut Akech's 5-Minute Bedtime Routine for Glowing Skin | Beauty Secrets". Vogue. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. "#SOCIETY60 - Episode 3 - Say My Name: Adut Akech". The Society Management. 16 December 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. Wallace, Francesca. "Australian model Adut Akech just closed Saint Laurent's Paris show - Vogue Australia". www.vogue.com.au.
  9. "Model of the Year 2018". models.com.
  10. "Model of the Year 2019". models.com.
  11. Spring, Alexandra (27 September 2017). "Adut's triumph: the Australian refugee taking on the fashion world". the Guardian.
  12. "adut akech isn't a star on the rise, she's a supernova". 17 July 2017.
  13. "Meet Adut Akech: The 17-Year-Old Australian Model Who Closed Saint Laurent Between HSC Studies".
  14. "A Shades of Gray Show That Was Genuinely Worth Watching". 5 March 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  15. "See Valentino's Spring 2018 Ad Campaign Here". fashionista.com.
  16. "Zara - Spring / Summer 2018 - Ad Campaign". fashiongonerogue.com. 26 January 2018.
  17. "Moschino - Spring / Summer 2018 - Ad Campaign". fashiongonerogue.com. 17 January 2018.
  18. Pithers, Ellie. "Meet Adut Akech, The South Sudanese Beauty Walking Every Major Autumn Catwalk". www.vogue.co.uk.
  19. "At Prada, Supermodels, Virtual Models, and a History-Making Moment". vogue.com.
  20. English, Vogue. "Kaia Gerber stars on the cover of Vogue Paris' February issue". vogue.fr.
  21. "Pure jean-ius (Vogue Australia)". models.com.
  22. "Create a Cool Look This Season with These Perfect Pieces". wsj.com.
  23. "Vogue Italia January 2018: Restarting issue". vogue.it. 4 January 2018.
  24. "An all-black Cast for the 2018 Calendar". pirellicalendar.pirelli.com.
  25. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/south-sudanese-australian-model-named-melbourne-fashion-week-ambassador
  26. "Top 50 Models". models.com.
  27. Woodyatt, Amy (26 August 2019). "Magazine publishes image of wrong model in Adut Akech feature". CNN Style. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  28. "Meghan Markle puts Sinéad Burke on the cover of Vogue's September issue". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
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