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New York Magazine

Models

Alek Wek

New York

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Alek Wek's photo View off-the-runway photos
Nationality
Sudanese
Birthday
April 16, 1977
Born In
Wau, Sudan
Lives Now
New York, NY
Agencies
Storm, IMG
Known For
Hair, Legs
Status
Supermodel
Friends
Edmundo Castillo, Natalia Vodianova, Iman, Tyson Beckford, Jade Parfitt, Tasha Tilberg, Michelle Alves, Mimi Roche
Interests
Music
Model Turned...
activist, actress, writer

Off the Runway Photos

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On the Runway Photos

  • Alek Wek
  • Alek Wek
  • Alek Wek

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Quoted

  • “I played the drums, then the piano . . . but now I'm really into my guitar.”
    —New York magazine

Alek Wek's Career Highlights

16 APR, 1977
Born in Wau, Sudan
1991
Moves to England with her family to escape the civil war between the Sudan’s Muslim north and Christian south
1991
Wek’s father is killed, leaving her mother and nine children
1995
Discovered by a Model 1 scout Fiona Ellis at a party
1995
Appears in the music video for Tina Turner’s GoldenEye
1996
Signed to Ford Models
1996
Appears in the video for Janet Jackson’s Got ’Til It’s Gone
1997
Named Model of the Year by MTV
1997
Named Model of the Decade by i-D
FEB 1997
Debuts on the runways for Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Ralph Lauren in Paris and New York
FEB 1997
Walks during fall Fashion Week for names like Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Lagerfeld, and Vivienne Westwood in Paris
NOV 1997
Appears on the cover of Elle
APR 1998
Appears on the cover of i-D
1999
Featured in the Pirelli calendar
1999
Named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People
OCT 1999
Appears on the cover of German Vogue
FEB 2000
Closes the Yves Saint Laurent fall show in Paris
JUL 2000
Appears on the cover of i-D
SEP 2000
Appears on the cover of Essence
JAN 2001
Opens the Valentino spring couture show in Paris
JAN 2001
Opens the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris
JAN 2001
Opens the Yves Saint Laurent spring couture show in Paris
MAR 2001
Closes the John Galliano fall show in Paris
SEP 2001
Closes the Oscar de la Renta spring show in New York
OCT 2001
Closes the Jean Paul Gaultier spring show in Paris
2002
Plays Sudanese princess Aquol in the film The Four Feathers
2002
Campaign for the Gap
JAN 2002
Appears on the cover of British Vogue
JAN 2002
Opens the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris
JUL 2002
Opens the Christian Lacroix fall couture show in Paris
JAN 2003
Opens and closes the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris
JAN 2003
Opens the Ralph Rucci Chado spring couture show in Paris
JUN 2004
Appears on the cover of Cosmopolitan
SEP 2004
Opens the Fendi spring show in Milan
2005
Launches wek1933, a line of handbags named for the year of her father’s birth
2006
Print ads for Jones New York
FEB 2006
Feature in Vogue about her choices in denim and her overall style
NOV 2006
Nominated for Britain’s Model of the Year award alongside Erin O’Connor and Kate Moss (the latter won)
FEB 2007
Closes the Diane Von Furstenberg show in New York
AUG 2007
Releases an autobiography, Alek, in which she admits that some of her modeling work has had racist undertones
8 SEP, 2007
Named Vogue's third best dressed of the week in a short Diane von Fustenburg dress Photo»
SEP 2007
Appears on the cover of Ebony with Iman, Tyra Banks, and Kimora Lee
JAN 2008
Walks the spring Christian Dior couture show in Paris
FEB 2008
Walks the fall Diane von Furstenberg show in New York
MAY 2008
Walks the resort Christian Dior show in New York
JUL 2008
Featured in the all-black Italian Vogue issue, photographed by Steven Meisel
SEP 2008
Closes the spring Aquascutum and Jasper Conran shows in London
FEB 2009
Closes the fall Aquascutum show in London
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