alek wek

i initially had another model to profile this month but it being july and the notorious "black" issue of vogue italia is finally out and all i keep on seeing are the images of naomi and sesilee (who i must say is fucking FIERCE!! i never really use that word but its the only way to describe ms. lopez's ed), i suddenly developed an urge to talk about one of my top five models of all time and that would be the obsidian beauty you are beholding, the ridiculously bonkers alek wek. i remember the first time i ever saw her, it was during the spring collections for 1996 and i was flabbergasted. i've always been partial to melanin blessed sistas because, in my opinion, the word "regal" in the truest sense of the word fits black women perfectly. in a sea of blonde haired amazons that was and still is the preferred look of fashion, here comes this girl with skin dark as ebony with the longest limbs on the planet and for once there was a black girl on the runway that just wasn't a dark carbon copy of the white models. her features were unapologetically african. since we all came from africa, i can conclude that alek and her beauty was the first standard of what is beautiful until a eurocentric society brutalized all that. i don't really want to get into race relations in fashion because i've talked about that hundred times and i just want to recognize one of the most groundbreaking models of all time. every time i see a picture of her i'm all tantalized and just stare at her skin because its so insanely rich like velvet. and if her outer beauty isn't enough she also has a heart as big as africa being a united nations ambassador for refugees. she might've reached the highest of highs in fashion, but homegirl still has time to fight for causes she believes in. now thats a model in the truest webster dictionary definition.