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2:28

Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and

2:30

CEO of The Business of Fashion. Welcome to

2:32

the B-O-F podcast. It's Friday,

2:34

October 27th. Mark

2:36

your calendars for B-O-F Voices 2023, which

2:39

takes place from November 28th to

2:41

November 30th, as always, featuring

2:44

industry icons, cultural disruptors,

2:46

and business moguls, delivering a rich

2:49

tapestry of insights and perspectives on

2:51

fashion and the wider world. And

2:54

to get into the Voices mood, in the coming weeks,

2:56

we will be sharing some of my favorite conversations

2:59

going all the way back to 2016. This

3:01

week, we revisit a special conversation

3:04

with the inspiring Aduit Akech, one

3:06

of the industry's top models, having appeared

3:09

on the covers of a plethora of international

3:11

magazines, and walked for some of the

3:13

biggest names in luxury fashion from Chanel

3:15

and Dior to Prada and Valentino.

3:18

But Aduit's story started in South Sudan

3:21

and Kenya, where she was a refugee

3:23

before her family relocated to Australia.

3:27

I will always be a refugee

3:29

because that's who

3:31

I am. No amount of money or

3:34

my status or how

3:36

famous or whatever the case is, I'm

3:39

always gonna be a refugee and I am proud

3:41

of who I am.

3:43

Aduit came to Oxfordshire for Voices 2018

3:46

and sat down with our editor at large, Tim

3:48

Blanks, to share her journey into the

3:50

world of fashion. Here's Aduit

3:53

Akech on the BOF podcast.

3:57

Aduit, just before we talk, I

3:59

wanted to. that one of fashion's

4:01

most seductive synchronicities is

4:04

that between model and moment.

4:07

I think of Twiggy or Veruschka or Linda

4:09

Evangelista or Kate Moss where

4:12

the model defines the moment so

4:15

perfectly that she becomes something

4:17

more. I think this is Adut's moment

4:19

for sure. But it's

4:22

so interesting to be

4:24

with her and participating

4:27

in a talk that she has called, I

4:29

will always be a refugee. And

4:32

obviously that is an irresistible

4:34

point to start our talk. So Adut,

4:36

why will you always be a refugee?

4:39

Okay,

4:39

well, can I first start

4:41

off by saying good afternoon everyone. It is

4:44

an absolute honor to be in this room

4:46

filled with such inspirational people

4:48

for the past two days. I've

4:51

been listening to many stories and many

4:53

people and every time I have lived in

4:55

this room I have felt so inspired

4:57

and I've obtained

5:00

so much knowledge and things that I had

5:02

no idea about before. So thank

5:05

you to each and every one of you guys that have

5:07

shared your stories and have taught

5:09

me something. It's crazy

5:12

to be here. It's my

5:14

first time speaking in front of a lot

5:16

of people. I'm not really good with public speaking.

5:19

So when I

5:20

first found out

5:27

that

5:29

I had made the list of the BOS 500,

5:34

I was blown away because I

5:37

had known about business of fashion.

5:39

I followed them and never ever

5:41

did it cross my mind that I would

5:43

be one of the 500 people

5:46

who's making some sort of positive

5:49

impact within the fashion industry.

5:51

When I found out, when my agent told me

5:53

about the gala in New York City by after,

5:56

I was like how and why and why me?

5:59

So when I attended the gala, I met

6:01

Imran for the first time and I

6:04

remember asking him, why me?

6:07

And he said, for the past year, I've

6:09

been following your journey and

6:11

you are so inspiring. And I was like,

6:15

if I can inspire someone like

6:17

Imran, that proves that

6:19

I can not only inspire models, but I can

6:21

inspire so many different people from different fields

6:24

of the industry, from various

6:26

industries. And then he asked me about

6:28

my story and I told him about it.

6:31

And here I am today,

6:34

found out about voices and as

6:36

nervous as I was, because I don't

6:38

usually speak in front of a lot of people. I was so excited

6:40

because, you know, I get to be here and

6:43

share with you guys about my story. And

6:45

it's just such an absolute honor. So

6:48

now,

6:49

why will you always be a refugee?

6:51

Why will

6:52

I always, I will always be a refugee

6:55

because that's who

6:57

I am. Like I've mentioned before, no

7:00

amount of

7:00

money or

7:02

my status or how

7:04

famous or whatever the case is, I'm

7:07

always going to be a refugee and I am proud

7:09

of who I am. And that's

7:12

why I always say I'm always going to be a refugee. But

7:15

like I said, does that mean you

7:16

feel like you belong nowhere

7:19

or do you feel? I feel like I belong

7:21

everywhere. Really. That's right. Yeah, that's

7:23

the answer. I feel like anywhere

7:25

in the world is a home for me

7:27

and I belong.

7:29

Because before when we were talking, I wondered what

7:31

your earliest memory was because

7:34

you've lived very distinct

7:36

lives. Yes,

7:37

I have. So quite surprisingly,

7:39

I have pretty good memory of, you know, when

7:41

I was younger in the camp as,

7:44

you know, some of the best memories

7:46

I have is just being a child.

7:48

I didn't know I was in a refugee camp.

7:50

It never felt like I was in a refugee camp. You know,

7:53

I had my cousins there and I had friends

7:55

and some of the best memories was

7:57

just running around and being a child and playing

7:59

with them.

7:59

lying, you know, not worrying

8:01

about anything. And then

8:04

there was the terrifying memories of

8:06

I'm like four and, you know, being

8:08

a four-year-old, you don't really understand what's

8:10

going on, but you have some sort

8:12

of gut feeling or sense

8:15

that something is not right. And I remember there

8:17

would be times where my family

8:19

and my relatives and people around

8:22

me would be scared because they thought

8:24

that there was people coming to kidnap

8:26

their kids and kill us and all of this. So,

8:28

you know, our families would be packing up

8:30

and we would all get in groups and try

8:33

and stay together. And I never

8:35

bothered to ask what was going on, but I knew that

8:37

something wasn't right. So it was, you know,

8:40

I have those good memories. I also have them

8:42

terrifying memories that, you know,

8:44

I wish that no child ever

8:47

has to feel.

8:47

And... But your family was split

8:50

up, weren't they?

8:50

Yes. So my family, when I

8:52

was born, I was born in South Sudan. My

8:55

family was fleeing war and then

8:57

they landed in Kakuma refugee camp

8:59

where I grew up and Kakuma

9:02

was my first home. You

9:04

know, some of my family is still back in South Sudan

9:06

right now. I have family in Kakuma. I have family in Nairobi.

9:09

I have family in South Sudan. I have family everywhere

9:12

around the world. So yes, we were split up, but...

9:14

And how did you get from

9:17

Kenya to Australia then? Because

9:19

it seemed you ended up in Adelaide in Australia, which

9:22

seems quite random, except it

9:24

wasn't, was

9:24

it? No. So my auntie

9:28

actually first went to Australia with my older

9:30

sister and they started

9:32

a visa process for my

9:35

mother and my younger sister and my

9:37

older cousin. And the visa

9:40

process was a whole lot easier because my sister

9:42

had a mother and, you know, when you have family,

9:44

it's so much... It's not that easy, but

9:47

it was so much easier. And when we got approved

9:49

for our visa, you know, we

9:51

left everything that we had in Kenya

9:55

and we went to Australia. We landed in Adelaide

9:57

and we started our new life there.

9:59

And you were reunited.

10:01

Yes, we were with my older

10:03

sister who I hadn't seen for a few years as

10:06

she went to Australia a few years before us

10:08

and she's like my best friend

10:11

and all my other family that was in Australia

10:13

before us.

10:15

See I have friends who were

10:18

refugee children who ended up in a completely

10:20

different culture from the one that they were familiar with

10:23

and it was an incredibly disorienting experience

10:27

which they've really spent the rest of their

10:29

lives coping with. But I'm

10:31

curious what your experience was

10:33

landing in Australia completely

10:35

different from anything you knew where

10:38

you had to acclimatize yourself

10:40

to a new education system for example.

10:43

Right,

10:43

right. I mean when I was in Kākuma, you know, in

10:45

Kenya my mother could not afford, I

10:48

wanted to go to school so bad but my mother could not

10:50

afford for me and my younger

10:52

sister to go to school. She had

10:54

a lot of people to look after. My mom's a

10:57

single mom and she's been a single mom since

10:59

I was a child and that

11:02

was something I really wanted to do so that

11:04

was one of the things I was really excited about going to Australia

11:06

because I had heard stories about you know education

11:09

is free there and I was like yes

11:11

I get to go to school. So the first

11:13

thing I wanted to do when I landed

11:16

in Adelaide was enroll in school and

11:18

you know leaving everything I had

11:21

behind in Kenya. Like I was

11:23

mindful and open-minded

11:25

about this new lifestyle that I'm about to start. I didn't

11:27

know what to expect. I didn't know what Australia

11:30

was going to be like or you know the

11:32

opportunities it was going to give me. I didn't

11:34

expect anything at all. I kind of just went with

11:36

the flow and I

11:37

adapted to Australia very

11:39

quickly and I think most children

11:41

do adapt to new things very quickly but

11:44

Australia became home to me so quickly.

11:47

Went to school, loved school, never wanted

11:49

to. I didn't want the weekend to come because I wanted

11:51

to go to school every single day. Meeting

11:53

new people. I learned English

11:56

so quickly and I just. We

11:58

are super tall. I was. very

12:00

tall. I think I stopped growing

12:03

when I was like 14 because then my sleeping

12:05

got messed up and my eating and everything but

12:07

I was a tall, lanky

12:10

kind of weird. I don't really, I'm only talkative

12:13

when I'm comfortable around someone but I'm very shy

12:15

at first and I don't really like talking so I

12:17

just kind of sat in the corner minding my own

12:19

business and I always

12:21

had some sort of love and passion for

12:24

fashion like I loved using. Me

12:27

and my older sister would take my aunties makeup and start

12:29

doing you know playing with it and our

12:31

mom would get mad and whatnot but I

12:34

always had that sort of connection with fashion but

12:36

the you know modeling came about when

12:38

I started seeing people like Alec Wack and Naomi

12:40

Campbell on TVs and then I

12:42

would go print out their posters and I'd

12:44

post them on my wall and I was like I want to be like them

12:47

I want to do what they do and then

12:49

it really came about in year seven when

12:51

I was a tall, lanky, skinny,

12:54

I don't know model figure and

12:56

my year seven teacher started telling me you should

12:58

be a model and I was like okay cool

13:01

I want to be a model but I didn't really

13:03

know anything about modeling. I guess

13:05

I just liked the look of Naomi Campbell and I

13:07

didn't really understand anything about modeling.

13:09

That's good. You saw yourself in

13:12

fashion though. Right. You could imagine

13:14

yourself actually doing it because... Yeah

13:16

I mean I loved clothes, I loved makeup,

13:19

I loved anything you know I loved dressing

13:21

up and I'd always take my sister's makeup

13:23

and do it at school and I'd call my mom and

13:26

tell my mom and I'll be like no I didn't.

13:29

But if you had all this new opportunity what

13:31

did your mother want you to do? The biggest

13:33

thing that my mother wanted

13:36

me to do was to get an

13:38

education because that's something that she really

13:40

wanted to do and when

13:43

we first moved on she told all

13:45

of us like she

13:46

wants us to go to school and get

13:48

an education degree and things like that

13:51

and she'll be a proud mom

13:53

and all of that so the biggest thing was education

13:56

and I wanted education for

13:58

myself not only for my mom but also for my mom. for

14:00

myself and that was what

14:02

I went for. And I got my education,

14:04

I graduated high school last year and

14:07

I made my mom proud like I promised

14:09

her. When I first moved to Australia,

14:12

I promised my mom three things. I said I'm going to finish high

14:14

school, I'm going to buy you a car and I'm going to buy you a house.

14:17

And those three things I have achieved

14:19

to them which is completing high school and buying my

14:21

mom a car and I'm currently in the process of trying to

14:24

buy my mom a house. So...

14:28

All by the age of 18. What

14:31

car did you buy her? What car did

14:33

you buy her?

14:35

So for the longest time, my mom was talking

14:37

about how she wanted a Jeep and then I was

14:39

like, okay, it's going to be expensive. I'm

14:41

really going to have to save. And

14:43

then in the end, she's like, you know what? I don't

14:45

even want a Jeep anymore. They're like super expensive

14:48

and they, you know, she just had reasons

14:50

as to why she don't want it. And so she wanted a Nissan,

14:54

like the latest model of

14:56

a, I guess, a five feet of family car Nissan.

14:58

And that's the one that I got her.

15:00

Perfect. Perfect.

15:04

How were you discovered then?

15:07

You said you became sort of fascinated by

15:09

modeling. How were you actually discovered?

15:11

So I actually been scouted

15:14

at like shopping centers and airports and

15:16

things like that. But my first

15:18

experience with modeling was, I had

15:20

an auntie who did a bit of modeling

15:23

and then she started designing some African fabric

15:25

print clothes. And then she would have

15:27

these mini shows in the city, Rundle

15:30

Mall and Adelaide. And when

15:32

I said I wanted to model after my

15:34

year seven teacher had stressed it to me so much,

15:36

I told my mom, she was like, year 12, like,

15:39

well, what are you going to do? You know, you're in year seven.

15:42

And she was not with it. So try

15:45

to convince her, she didn't start trying to get my auntie

15:47

to convince her. And she was like, no, she's

15:49

too young. But then my auntie asked

15:51

me to be in her show. And I was like,

15:53

yes, but you're going to have to ask mom because she's not going

15:55

to be OK with it. So she asked mom, mom

15:57

didn't think anything of it. She was like, whatever. So

16:01

I did the show and my first

16:03

time walking on a runway, I

16:05

just had this feeling like this

16:08

is it. Like this is what I want to do.

16:11

Why? Why do you think? I don't know.

16:13

I cannot describe

16:16

why, but I feel like maybe

16:19

it was just in me that modeling was something

16:21

I wanted to do and it's, I

16:23

don't know, like I just fell in love. Instead

16:25

it was like love at first sight. Went on the runway

16:27

and I was like this is it. I don't know what I'm going to do.

16:29

I don't know anything about modeling, but I know that

16:31

this is what

16:32

I want to do. You think you said you were shy, but you think

16:34

being on the runway allowed you to be a showoff so

16:36

you could become something else?

16:38

I feel like when I'm on the runway, I'm a whole different person.

16:40

I'm like, I'm not shy. So yeah,

16:43

maybe it's a way of showing off. I don't know.

16:45

Because then that happened really quickly that you were

16:47

taken to Paris right away. I

16:49

mean, just like talk about a fairy tale. I

16:51

mean, that's just how the other happened. Yeah.

16:54

You didn't exactly have to kind of.

16:56

I mean, I didn't, I didn't see that coming at

16:58

all. I was in Melbourne doing a Melbourne

17:01

Fashion Week. I was in school. So

17:03

it was so hard to convince my mom to let

17:06

me take that one week off school, but she did. So

17:08

I was in Melbourne doing shows. I got a

17:11

call from my agent telling me, oh,

17:13

St. Laurent wants some head shots of you. And I was like,

17:15

okay, don't think anything of it. I'm like, St. Laurent,

17:17

you know. So I was

17:19

like, you know, what do they want? So

17:22

I went in, I did the head shots, didn't think anything

17:24

of it. Went on about all my week, finished my

17:26

shows. And then I flew back home to Adelaide.

17:29

And I get a call two days later from my agent

17:32

telling me. And he was speaking so fast, I

17:34

didn't understand him. And he was like, you

17:36

might possibly be going to Paris

17:38

this Friday. And I was like, okay. All

17:41

right. And he was, I missed the part

17:43

where he said for St. Laurent, but then I was

17:46

like, oh, going to Paris. Like, what am I

17:48

going to Paris for exactly? So I called him

17:50

back and he was like, oh, St. Laurent, they want to go

17:52

see you. And I was like, oh, okay, wow. It's

17:54

crazy. My mom was actually, she

17:56

went to Kenya and then she arrived a day

17:59

before I left. So I called her

18:01

and she was like, like,

18:03

what about school? And I'm like, mom, it's

18:05

just for a couple of days. I promise I'll

18:07

do my homework.

18:09

Yes, I bet. So

18:14

two days later, I flew to Paris. I,

18:16

you know, it was my first time flying out of

18:18

Australia in a long time. So nobody had told

18:20

me I had to wear like compression stockings or

18:22

anything like that. So I didn't move on a

18:25

plane. My foot swelled up, actually.

18:28

And it was pretty bad because I spent the first

18:30

eight hours in Paris at the hospital. So

18:32

straight after my, there's no shoe that was

18:34

fitting my foot. I thought I was going to lose

18:36

my foot. I was freaking out. It was very

18:38

painful. And I really thought that they were going to cut me from

18:41

the show. Because, you know, I was just going for a meeting.

18:43

I braced myself that, OK, if they don't like

18:45

me, they're not going to choose me. But at least I get a free trip

18:47

to Paris, whatever. So so

18:51

I went and every day I was going to Saint Laurent to

18:53

see them. I didn't hear anything about being confirmed

18:55

or being denied. And I just

18:58

started getting very frustrated. And then my foot,

19:00

I was like, they're definitely not going to accept me. You

19:02

know, my foot was like a size one

19:04

foot was a size 41 and the other was a 38. I

19:06

was like, there's no way. But it was painful

19:09

and it hurt. And every morning I'd wake up crying

19:12

like, why? Why me? Why is this happening

19:14

at this time? And

19:16

then the day of the show came, we're

19:19

doing rehearsals. Originally, I was supposed to wear high

19:21

heels and I just couldn't

19:23

do it. Like my foot was just in so much

19:25

pain. And that was it. Like I was like, yeah, I

19:27

just messed this up. You know, there's no

19:30

way they're going to use me now. You

19:32

know, a few hours before the show, they ended up changing

19:34

the shoes to men taxi

19:36

to shoes. And

19:39

I got to walk my first ever Saint

19:41

Laurent show. And that's where it all started.

19:44

Really.

19:44

And I remember I remember your debut.

19:46

I remember every show you were in. And that hardly ever

19:49

happens. And it just felt to me, as I

19:51

said before, that the

19:53

timing was so perfect. Were you conscious

19:55

yourself from the way people reacted to

19:58

you that you represented? something

20:00

new or something different

20:03

in modeling and in fashion.

20:05

That it happened so

20:07

fast. People, it was like people

20:09

had been waiting for you.

20:11

I suppose. Yeah,

20:14

I mean.

20:14

What do you think you represent now in

20:17

modeling? When the fashion industry has

20:19

been

20:20

making this big point of becoming a

20:22

much more diverse place right across the

20:24

board. Do you think, do you feel that you're part

20:27

of that?

20:27

Yes, I do, 100%. I'm

20:30

so grateful that I have

20:33

came into modeling at a time like this

20:35

where I get to be a part of this positive

20:37

impact that's happening within the industry.

20:39

And I mean, I haven't been modeling for

20:41

that long, but each year, the diversity

20:44

and inclusivity gets better and

20:46

better every year. And it's just

20:49

amazing to be a part of this sort

20:51

of movement that's happening. I

20:53

represent black girls.

20:56

I represent refugees.

20:58

I represent people

21:00

who came from nothing and have made something

21:03

out of themselves. I feel like I represent

21:05

a lot of things.

21:05

And

21:07

I sit here proudly today knowing

21:09

that I am inspiring a lot of people.

21:12

And just like how I looked up to people

21:14

like a legwork for inspiration, now

21:18

people look up to me for inspiration. And I

21:20

don't think there's no greater feeling in this world

21:22

than

21:23

that. And that doesn't

21:25

overwhelm you. You feel you have a responsibility

21:28

to represent.

21:29

I do get overwhelmed like any human

21:31

being does. But I feel like

21:33

I have this responsibility

21:36

to represent young

21:39

girls and boys. I

21:41

don't only have little girls

21:44

that look up to me, but there's also boys who message

21:46

me, telling me that I inspire them

21:48

in what I do. And it's not

21:50

just people who want to model. People

21:53

message me telling me that I've inspired them

21:55

to love their black skin.

21:57

And I inspire them to change. chase

22:00

their dreams, because I'm a big believer of

22:02

dreams. And in every post,

22:04

I would say, you know, if you have a dream, just

22:08

go for it, because you'll never know.

22:10

And what do you imagine will happen now? What would

22:12

you like to come next?

22:15

I want this movement

22:17

that is happening within

22:20

the industry to

22:21

get better and better,

22:23

more diversity, more inclusivity.

22:25

And I'm just really, really

22:27

excited to see where we're going to head

22:29

with this

22:30

so far. We're doing a great job.

22:33

I'd like to acknowledge the industry for,

22:36

I don't know, the movement that's happening right

22:38

now.

22:39

Well, I'm going to look at my crystal ball. And I

22:41

think at the British Fashion Awards next week, you're

22:43

probably going to be model of the year.

22:45

I don't know.

22:47

Fingers crossed. I just saw the

22:49

best

22:49

Australian model of the year. I'm

22:52

not usually right, but I think I might be right this

22:55

time. I hope. Thank you very much. Thank

22:57

you so much.

23:00

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