AGE OF ADUT
Adut Akech is poised to go from great heights into the stratosphere of success, but she will do it on her terms: with kindness, thoughtfully taking as many people with her as she can. Styled by Jillian Davison. Photographed by Nathaniel Goldberg.
Adut Akech is poised to go from great heights into the stratosphere of success, but she will do it on her terms: with kindness, thoughtfully taking as many people with her as she can.
Ajuggernaut in the making, Adut Akech embodies values that are universal in scale, but human in practice. As someone who holds certain ideals close to heart, she is of the opinion that models can, and should, use their platforms to contribute to meaningful discussion. Akech has chosen to share her spotlight, using her influence and global following to encourage us to bear witness to the plight of refugees. It is an experience shared by millions worldwide, and something she knows first-hand, as a South Sudanese refugee who fled to Adelaide from a United Nations camp in Kenya as a child, although it is seldom discussed in the lofty realms of fashion. Above all, she believes the world should be a place for kindness, paying forward the mentorship she has received from the industry’s best to those younger than her.
As she stares down a new decade, 2020 will be a big year for the model. She has said so herself, declaring on her Instagram that she will go out and claim what is hers, and what she has worked hard to deserve, and she has just been named one of Time’s ‘Next 100’. A year ago, with great honesty, she detailed her reckoning with anxiety and depression, encouraging others to reach out as she did. With a maturity that transcends her age, she faces the future with the kind of nous that is enlivening and contagious. This year is also the year she exits her teens: 20, in 2020. The stars seem aligned for her. A gift to the industry – she was born on Christmas Day, after all – she tells Vogue in her own words, what is driving her onward.
“I grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya. My family fled from war in South Sudan and landed in Kakuma. That’s where I spent the first seven or eight years of my life, before I moved to Australia. We didn’t know what a magazine was and we didn’t know much about fashion. We didn’t have a lot of clothes. I grew up very, very far from fashion, and I only discovered the love that I have for fashion when I moved to Australia.
“When we first moved, I remember telling my mum: ‘I promise I’m going to finish school. I’m going to buy you a house. I’m going to buy you a car, and I’m going to make something out of myself’, and I’m someone who keeps promises. There’s nothing more important to me than making my mum proud, and education was one of the biggest reasons she took us to Australia, and to have the freedom to do anything we wanted to do.
“I’ve always grown up around a lot of family members, so family is very big to me, and my family is everything to me. They’re the reason why I get up every day and push myself and strive to do better, day by day. I want to be the best role model. I set the best example I can for my younger siblings to also teach them that nothing is given to you in life. Nothing is easy, but just work hard and never give up, and have determination and dedication. My mum deserves the world. She’s an incredible lady, a superwoman, raising six kids on her own as a single mum, and I think she’s done an amazing job.
“The December issue [of Vogue Australia in 2018] was by far my favourite cover and story I’ve ever done, because it’s so personal to me. It included my family and my relatives and everybody around me. It was the first time I got to show the world where I come from, my family, my background, just me – the real Adut, and nothing will ever top that.
“Every time I come [to Paris], I remember arriving here at 16, in 2016, to meet the Saint Laurent team, not knowing whether I was going to be confirmed to walk the show or not. But that was where it all started. I got confirmed and the minute I hit that runway, that was just: ‘This is it. There’s no going back; I just have to go forward from this point onwards.’ Now, I would say I’m just a little bit busier than I was when I was 16.
“I’m spending every other day on a plane. Life on the road for me right now is very busy. All over the place, travelling the world, getting to work with and meet some of the most amazing people, and I’m very, very grateful. I grew up around my family, and that’s all I knew. Moving away from them, even though it’s been two years since I moved out of home, it’s still hard. I miss them a lot, but I always remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing, and it’s for my family. So that keeps me going.
“I’ve met so many amazing, talented people, from photographers to designers to people who I looked up to, growing up and wanting to model. Naomi Campbell, for example, she is now like a mum figure to me. I call her mother. She was the first family I had when I first moved to New York. And, I mean, she plays a very important role in my life. She’s a very big support in my career and just my life in general. I’ve met Edward [Enninful, British Vogue editor-in-chief], who I absolutely adore, and I call him my Papa. I feel like I am
“My family is everything to me. They’re the reason why I get up every day and push myself and strive to do better, day by day. I want to be the best role model. I set the best example I can for my younger siblings and to also teach them that nothing is given to you in life”
protected, and I’m safe when they’re around and I know that they have my back, no matter what.
“Karl Lagerfeld was someone else I met who was very special to me, and I miss him dearly. We just went on this journey together at Chanel. Pierpaolo [Piccioli, creative director of Valentino] is another who I absolutely have so much love and respect for. I respect him for what he does and his creativity and talent, but I love who he is as a person. We’ve been on this journey since I got off my exclusivity [walking only for Saint Laurent], and he’s had my back 100 per cent all the way. I’m the face of his new fragrance, Born In Roma. I’ve closed shows for him. I’ve gone to the Met Gala with him. We’ve just been on a really crazy, unexpected journey together. When I’m working with the Valentino team … I feel very loved and welcome and wanted, and there’s no better feeling than that.
“When my agent told me about ‘Forces for Change’ [for British Vogue’s September 2019 issue, about women selected by the Duchess of Sussex for their contribution to progress in different spheres], they didn’t give me much information: I just went to the shoot. It was with Peter Lindbergh, who recently passed. That was my first time working with him, and I’m so honoured that I got to do that.
I didn’t know the Duchess of Sussex had anything to do with it until she called me. I got a call from an English number, and I thought: ‘Who could it be?’, because I have Edward’s number saved, and he’s the only person from England who would call me. I picked up, and it was Meghan. She was very sweet, very calm and said: ‘Hi, is this Adut?’ She told me that she was the guest editor for this issue and the reason she picked me – I was mind-blown. The Duchess of Sussex is on my phone telling me it was only right that she has me on that cover, that she finds me inspirational and finds my story and what I do standing up for refugees inspirational. There are so many incredible women all around the world, so the fact that she noticed me and listened to my story … it blows my mind every time I think about it. For someone in such a position to notice me and to acknowledge me is special itself.
“I think diversity is so very important in the fashion industry, because I feel like everyone needs to be included. Everyone needs to be accepted for who they are, where they’ve come from, not be judged, and just be accepted. I feel like this is something that the industry has lacked for a while, but it’s improving more and more. It’s just important, because everybody needs to be included. I wanted to be a model, and at the time that I wanted to model, I didn’t see a lot of black girls. I never really thought I was going to get anywhere with it, because [of that]. Now there’s so many, and it makes me so proud and happy that I’m a part of this movement. If my little sister tells me she wants to model, I want her to just go for it and be accepted and wanted. If she has the potential, just like any other kid who was born in the Western world, then she should have that same opportunity.
“I want to use my position and my platform to speak about things that are very important that need to be discussed, and things that need to change. Sustainability is definitely something very important that we all need to come together for, and sit down and see what changes we can make. The [fashion] industry has played a role in some of the damage. It’s very important that this is happening and a lot of brands are starting to make little changes here and there. For me, I can talk about it and try to bring awareness to it. I want to use my platform to educate.
“If Vogue is talking about this regularly, I think that a lot of people are going to get on board with this and say: ‘Okay, you know what, if Vogue is constantly talking about this in every issue …’ And I think that this is something that needs to happen and every Vogue needs to do this. I think the message will get across very quickly, and people will re-evaluate and see what changes they can make in their own personal life. For example, I have stopped using plastic bottles. I have, in my home in New York or wherever I am, a glass water bottle, and I have a metal water bottle, and I just use those. It can just be little changes like that, you know? I started learning more about sustainability through the industry and from hearing people like Stella McCartney talk. I admire her a lot for what she does. I’ve become more and more and more interested in hearing about why sustainability is so important. We’ve seen some of the effects of not having a sustainable industry.
“I finished school two years ago. I bought my mum a car for her birthday last year. I just bought her a house for her birthday this year, and I made something out of myself. I had a dream. I worked hard. I followed my dreams. I proved a lot of people wrong, and I’m here today. I would say that my life, right now, is at its best. The opportunities and everything I’ve achieved in the last three years, I didn’t see half of them coming my way. It’s crazy.”
“At the time that I wanted to model, I didn’t see a lot of black girls. I never really thought I was going to get anywhere with it. Now there’s so many black models, and it makes me so proud and happy that I’m a part of this movement”