On a Tuesday morning, in a brutalist indoor car park off an industrial road in a not-so-trendy west London area.
A huge table with lateral flow experiments has been meticulously drawn out. It's reasonable to believe that this isn't where the magic happens. Then, unexpectedly, a door opens onto a vast studio with dramatic black draperies. Inside, nine attractive Black models with a variety of face traits await hair and make-up. They're joking about, and I hear bits of Dinka and other mother tongues sprinkled throughout the dialogue. They're giggling and mocking one other while swaying and mouthing Wizkid's Don't Dull, Ojuelegba, Essence, and pretty much the full Made in Lagos tracklist.
These women are a completely different breed of model, and they are currently pushing the limits of not only beauty, but also the entire fashion industry.
On the spring/summer '22 runways, Adut, Anok, Nyagua, Janet Jumbo, Maty Fall, and co. represented a continuous seismic change that became more obvious. Dark-skinned models from Senegal, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, and Ethiopia flooded the runways of Prada, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Miu Miu, and many other fashion houses. This is a watershed moment for an industry that has long been chastised for its lack of diversity and for promoting Eurocentric beauty standards.
Edward Enninful recalls, I saw all these great models from over Africa who were just so vibrant and intellectual.
Consider the case of Adut Akech. She is likely the most successful African model working today, at the age of 22. She has racked up numerous fashion and beauty campaigns – from Valentino to Estée Lauder – and recently purchased a home in Los Angeles, following her runway debut at Saint Laurent in 2016. Her international Vogue covers have run into the double digits, and she has notched up numerous fashion and beauty campaigns – from Valentino to Estée Lauder. Janet Jumbo, a 19-year-old Nigerian model who walked for Louis Vuitton and Burberry and believes the current wave of success for African models "gives me faith that I can achieve at this," has undoubtedly been influenced by her.
Anok Yai, a fellow Sudanese model, shared the feeling of not belonging as she became only the second Black model to start a Prada show in February 2018 (Naomi Campbell was the first, in 1997.) She recalls feeling "very isolated" at first. I was pushed into the modeling profession headfirst and had to figure it out on my own. I also suffer from social anxiety, therefore I had a hard time making friends. Maybe one other Black female would be backstage, but now my tribe is backstage. To my buddies, I can communicate in my own tongue. They remind me a lot of my family.
According to Brokaw, the scarcity of African models in the past was due to outmoded casting processes. I've had to undertake my reconnaissance through an agency, presumably based in Milan or Paris, that would pass on their recommendations to me over time.
Iman, the pioneering original African model who not only pioneered the way but has long advocated for diversity on the runway, has a message for Akech and the rest of the industry. Let the beholder be you if beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And what is her message to the rest of the world? All hail our African models, with their jet-black complexion, incredibly long limbs, and natural hair, who are full of joy and never compromise.
