On The Cover:Alek Wek

Alek Wek was born 16 April 1977. She is a South Sudanese British model who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 18 in 1995, sparking a career lasting to date. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but in 1991 she and some family members fled to Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan. She later moved to the United States. She was born the seventh of nine children in Wau, Sudan (now South Sudan) in 1977. When she was preparing to emigrate from Sudan, her mother picked the date April 16, which occurs in the rainy season during which she was born. She says her name means “Black Spotted Cow”. Wek was born to her mother a housewife, and her father Athian Wek, an education official. Alek Wek has stated that physically, she resembles her father, who also had unusually long limbs. Athian Wek had once broken his hip in a bicycle accident; his hip was repaired with metal pins. When the civil war broke out in Wau in 1985, the Wek family had to flee from both rebel and government forces. Wek was discovered at an outdoor market in London in 1995 in Crystal Palace, south London, by a Models 1 scout. She first received attention when she appeared in the music video for “GoldenEye” by Tina Turner, in 1995 and from there entered the world of fashion as one of its top models. She was signed to Ford Models in 1996 and was also seen in the “Got ‘Til It’s Gone” music video by Janet Jackson that year. She was named “Model of the Year” in 1997 by MTV. She was the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle, also in 1997. Wek also designs a range of designer handbags called “Wek 1933”, which are available throughout selected Selfridge’s department stores. The year refers to the year her father was born. Her inspiration for the designs came from the brass-clasp briefcase carried by her father.She is a member of the U.S. Committee for Refugees’ Advisory Council and is helping to raise awareness about the situation in Sudan, as well as the plight of refugees worldwide. She can base this on her own experience as a refugee, fleeing the war in her country of birth.She is a missionary for World Vision, an organisation which combats AIDS, an ambassador for Doctors without Borders in Sudan, and devotes time to UNICEF.In 2007, she released an autobiography titled ‘Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel’ documenting her journey from a childhood of poverty in Sudan to the catwalks of Europe.In 2011, she appeared as a guest judge in the sixteenth cycle of America’s Next Top Model.