ADUT AKECH BIOR

Backing up 2019 was always going to be difficult for Adut Akech Bior. The 20-year-old closed out the decade with a slew of accolades to her name: the British Fashion Awards’ Model of the Year, a coveted spot on the Time 100 Next list, and a personal shout-out from Meghan Markle as a “force for change”.

So what did the top model do next? She continued to dominate the fashion landscape, and in doing so, stayed true to Markle’s words.

While coronavirus lockdowns and travel bans sent the fashion industry into a spin, Akech kept working: in July, she was one of just two models Chanel’s creative director, Virginie Viard, chose for the label’s digital couture show; and in September, she walked for Versace, Fendi, Boss and more at Milan Fashion Week.

Meanwhile, she became a face of Tiffany & Co.’s Tiffany T1 collection, and stars in David Jones’ dreamy new-season campaign (pictured here).

Akech is outspoken on issues of diversity and discrimination. Born in what is now South Sudan and raised in a refugee camp in Kenya, Akech moved to Adelaide at the age of eight. Last year, when a magazine misidentified her as a different Black model, she called out the “unacceptable” racism. This year, as the Black Lives Matter movement gripped the world, her Instagram plea to “do better” seemed more pertinent than ever.

“I used to be silent,” she told her mentor and “fashion mama” Naomi Campbell in an interview in April. “But my voice is my [gift] that nobody can ever take away from me. And I’m going to use it.”