ABOVE LEFT: Brown
suede bag. ABOVE RIGHT: Eyeglasses
holder. RIGHT: More designs from
the Wek 1933 Limited fall 2003 collection.
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Alek Wek: the humanitarian
Alek
Wek, a woman familiar with loss, war and strife, has never,
ever forgotten her roots. In her conversation with Iman Abdulmajid,
herself a person accustomed to loss and being uprooted, she
went delved deeper than ever before into what it meant to
have survived such a tumultuous childhood in a war-torn land.
‘The Civil War’ she said, ‘has robbed my
people of their basic rights: their voices, the necessities
of life, even life itself.’ So it is quite understandable
that she felt that she owed it to her family and fellow Sudanese
citizens left behind to give back in any way that she could.
‘In my country, families are raised as though
they are one. Although I am from the Dinka tribe, my parents
didn’t raise us as the Dinka tribe. They raised us as the
Wek family, in the way they believed their children should
grow up. So when you leave, the first thing you think
[about] is the ones you left behind. It’s natural to[try and]
help them in any way you can. I found a way to support myself
rather than asking my Mum to give me money. I would work before
school and send money back to pay for their rent and food.’
Since that time, Ms Wek has gone back many
times to the Sudan to visit relatives and more importantly,
on humanitarian missions to bring aid and comfort to the people
there whose lives are still being affected by the Civil War.
Her philanthropic work includes serving on the Advisory
Board for the US Committee for Refugees, inaugurating
the Bracelet of Life campaign in conjunction with Médécins
Sans Frontières, which raised awareness
about malnutrition brought on by the Civil War and famine
in Sudan. She was a featured speaker at the International
Black Caucus on Foreign Affairs and served on a panel
that also included Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor Danny
Glover and Congressman Daniel Payne.
Currently, she is working on raising the
awareness among people of rich nations such as the United
States on the importance of expanding the access to life-saving
pharmaceutical drugs to poor people in developing countries
as such as her beloved Sudan.
She has worked on programmes dealing with
Aids awareness, children’s charities, breast cancer research,
as well as lecturing at New York City area schools on the
importance of childhood nourishment and calling attention
to the effects of famine and hunger on the world’s children
population.
In addition, Ms Wek serves on the Women
and Politics panel, and most recently completed a PBS
documentary for it entitled, If Women Ruled the World.
She sometimes becomes upset by the one-sided
viewpoint presented by the world media about life in the Sudan
and other third-world and African nations, a sore point and
point of contention she shares with Iman. As they see it,
life in these countries is not all ‘people who were looting
the food and people who were dying.’ Both women agree that
when such an overpoweringly negative viewpoint of a country
is sent out via the media and presented as the norm, ‘people
begin to think, "Oh, it’s just another starving African
country. There’s nothing I can do about it."’
Ergo, the importance of showing the other
side of the coin and correcting the image perception is paramount
to her being.
‘That’s why I want to raise awareness,’
Ms Wek concurred. ‘Don’t just show pictures of starving children.
That’s not all there is. I saw people struggling to survive
and making it. I saw families holding [it] together. I saw
kindness and beauty, not just bombing and death. I heard beautiful
stories, but that’s not what the media shows us. I want to
go back [to Sudan and] live there again some day. It’s a beautiful
country and it has an amazing culture and history. If you
are going to tell a story, tell the whole story.’PDJ
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Her big break came in 1995 when she was approached
by a model agency scout while shopping in a London market. She signed
on with Models One, and hasn’t looked back since. She has walked the
runway for every internationally known designer in the world (including
Ralph Rucci who considers her to be one of his muses) and was the
guest model at Australian Fashion Week in November 2002. She has worked
with some of the most influential photographers of our time including
Steven Meisel, Irving Penn, Mario Testino, Steven Klein, Annie Leibowitz,
Bruce Weber, Nick Knight and the late Herb Ritts. Her magazine photo
editorial pages and magazine cover appearances are too numerous to
mention here, but rest assured, they are always memorable. She has
also appeared in print ads and television commercials for various
companies including Ralph Lauren, Revlon, Clinique Happy, Jean-Paul
Gaultier, Banana Republic, Nars and Issey Miyake. There is nothing she hasn’t tried and not accomplished
with great aplomb, and that includes acting in the movies. Her latest
project—and success—takes her back to her pre-modelling days and
is the next logical step for Ms Wek, a woman who’s tenacious enough
to overcome seemingly insurmountable adversity and smart enough
to grab a hold of each and every opportunity that comes her way.
And although she was quite emphatic in downplaying
her accomplishments (‘I feel as if I’m still quite young to talk
about my legacy’), she can look back at her life and career so far
with pride.
‘When it’s all said and done,’ she remarks, ‘I
would like to look back and think that I help to make [the prospect
of] modelling a possibility for a greater number of people. I don’t
do things that I will regret in the future. I tend to err on the
side of caution. Not to mention the fact that the present world
I reside in would not have been possible without my past. I am most
proud of being able to represent my family and community with honour
and dignity.’
As her career became more stable, she put down
roots in Brooklyn, New York, and started painting once more, which
have lead to her blossoming career as an accessories’ designer of
couture handbags and belts. The line, Wek 1933 Limited, is a tribute
to her father and the lifelong impact he has had on her life (with
the number 1933
Karl Lagerfeld paid
her the ultimate compliment by pronouncing the début
spring 2002 collection ‘chic’ and backed up the statement by
purchasing pieces for his Paris gallery |
signifying the year he was born).
The début spring 2002 line, which sold
out pretty quickly at high-end stores such as Barney’s and Maxfield,
ranged from small minaudieres to woven leather totes and waxed-canvas
messenger bags. Most were lined with silk or cotton in original
patterns based on Ms Wek’s paintings and all featured oversized,
dog-tag-inspired buckles in cooper, brass or silver. Her African
heritage was readily represented through the rich, earthy tones
and textured finishes of the pieces.
Stephanie Nitschke, an accessories buyer for Barney’s,
the first retailer to sign on to sell the collection, praised the
line in Ocean Drive magazine, declaring, ‘[H]er designs are
not only very functional but also just really cool. We like to grow
with our designers, and Alek has tremendous potential. She’s talented,
down-to-earth and fun, and that comes across in her line.’
Karl Lagerfeld paid her the ultimate compliment
by pronouncing the collection ‘chic’ and backed up the statement
by purchasing pieces for his Paris gallery.
‘Chic,’ she said to Ocean Drive’s Laurie
Brookins, ‘was just a word that never popped into my head. Functional,
yes; fashionable, lovely. But to hear "chic" from Karl
of all people was beyond exciting.’
Her Wek 1933 Limited fall 2003 collection (‘Akua’),
scheduled to be in the stores in September 2003, got its inspiration
from the desert. She was in the deserts of Morocco shooting a scene
for the film Four Feathers (starring Heath Ledger and Heather
Graham) when she became awestricken by the vibrant sunsets and the
shades of red and yellow within. Couple that with her base earthy
textures, and what you have before you is yet another hot-selling
collection.
This time around, she has evolved and reworked
many of the pieces so that they are appropriate for both men and
women. They still all feature solid brass work hardware, and she
added that extra special personal touch by lining the interiors
with a one-of-a-kind graphic print of her own palm.
I purposely designed a small, manageable collection,
she asserts, because ‘that way, I can maintain a hands-on approach
regardless of all the other things that are transpiring in my life.’
And time will tell, she adds, when questioned
about the potential for the line to be an even greater success than
it already is. ‘We will have to see how busy my business keeps me.
For now, I see myself continuing to model indefinitely. I really
enjoy it.’
The signature piece of this 12-piece collection,
the Wek Briefcase based on her late father’s own, comes in cinnamon
wax with chocolate brown trim, solid chocolate suede or top-of-the-line
alligator (upon request). All the other pieces are noteworthy but
I especially like the MM Bag (a messenger
bag in field tan wax with chocolate brown suede trim), the large Travel
Bag (in port wax with chocolate brown suede trim) and the small Travel
Bag (in solid chocolate suede). All the pieces truly live up to the
credo of the line: they are functional, fashionable, built to last
and, yes, quite chic. And any woman worth her salt would be extremely
proud and honoured to carry Ms Wek’s chocolate alligator minaudière
with ebony suede lining. It also comes in mink alligator and ebony
suede as well.
The belts in the new collection are silk-screened
with her hand "lifeline"-inspired prints, featuring large
and small buckles in solid brass and antique cooper. The colour
palette in this group is port (red), field tan, desert yellow, saddle
suede and cutty yellow wax, with some pieces also available in calf
skin and woven leather.
Of the fall line, Ms Wek is ‘most proud that [she]
continue to have the passion and drive to carry on.’ And as with
every designer I have ever spoken to, she has a difficult time choosing
one design over the others.
‘It’s hard to choose a favourite [because] they
are all like children to me,’ she divulged. ‘But if I have to, I
would say that the wax utilitarian bags such as the travel or U-bags
suit my hectic lifestyle the best.’
And expansion, however far off in the future,
is always at the forefront of her mind. ‘Who knows? As things evolve,
jewellery could definitely work its way into the fold. Even in Sudan,
we’ve always heard that diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’
Alek Wek is a true renaissance woman of our time
and, rather than resting on her laurels, she is looking forward
to the future and all that it holds. ‘There are always mountains
left to climb. It wouldn’t be a life worth living if those mountains
didn’t exist. The view is always most spectacular from the highest
peak.’ •
Phillip D. Johnson is features’ editor of
Lucire.
The Wek 1933 Limited Akua collection is available
in select stores in the United States and internationally through
Ms Wek or her representatives to personally ensure the line’s high
level of quality. Prices range from $325 to $5,500 for the alligator
Wek Briefcase. She also creates one-of-a-kind creations for
charities, silent auctions and benefits, her latest being a bag
adorned with Swarovski Crystals for a recent Dance Theater of Harlem
benefit.
For more information on the collection, please
contact Ms Wek through her public relations agency, Shirine Coburn
Communication (130 West 42nd Street, Suite 750, New York, NY 10036)
at 1 212 730-7277; fax 1 212 730-4738 or email at karen@sccommunication.com
(account manager Karen Garber) or candace@sccommunication.com
(account manager Candace Jackson).
Lucire: I
am Iman (March 16, 2003)
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