Esihle wants to be next modeling success story
‘Fashion needs representation by different people’
The Eastern Cape’s tiny gem, King Williams Town, has proven to be a factory of the country’s most precious diamonds.
From politicians such as Steve Biko and Steve Tshwete to sport stars like Lukhanyo Am and Makhaya Ntini.
However, model and activist Esihle Mchunu is quietly paving her own path to being its next success story.
Growing up in the small town, Mchunu notes the many privileges she had even when she had to struggle with life as a differently abled girl from a young age.
While there was pressure from herself to always excel, she always maintained a positive outlook of herself.
Even as she browsed through multiple magazines that did not give a full representation of differently abled people.
With a hunger to see people who look like her, Mchunu pursued a career in modelling.
“It’s not easy. Apart from imposter syndrome, there isn’ ta lot of representation so it can make it hard for people to believe that a disabled person can be in an industry like this.”
While she says there are few people who will accept her as a model, Mchunu has taken up space and dominated a number of local runways. She most recently walked for renowned local designer Gert-Johan Coetzee who has dressed local and international stars, including Bonang Matheba and Kourtney Kardashian.
“He was so welcoming and so warm and if it wasn’t for people like him in the industry who are ready to embrace people like me I wouldn’t have made it that far,” says Mchunu.
Prior to being cast in his show, Mchunu was experiencing a lot more rejection as a model on the catwalk.
This mirrored the lowest point in her career when she was attending castings for modelling shows and she was being snubbed by many of the designers she auditioned for albeit having being picked by numerous ones before.
Her resilience has often saved her in castings and has seen her make a name for herself in pageantry as well. In the past couple of years, Mchunu made it on to the stages of pageants aimed at able-bodied women where she was able to place as the second princess at Miss Free State 2021.
“What was incredible about these teams was that they prioritised what comes out of your mouth before how you look and that is the criteria of pageantry,” says Mchunu, cheerfully adding, “a certain percentage is about how you look and I’m pretty bomb, how I look has never been a problem.”
While bigger pageants are being inclusive of different skin conditions and body shapes, there has been little inclusion of differently abled women.
Something Mchunu views as “baby steps” that prove that there is a long way to go.
She also plans to take on the main Miss SA stage in hopes that it will help give more recognition to differently abled people.