119” I NE VER WANTED MY STORY
to be about the refugee girl
WHO BECAME A SUPERMODEL
overnight. I wanted to shape
MY OWN NARR ATIVE ”W
Jacket, top and trousers, all SIES MARJAN. Earrings,
LAURA LOMBARDI. Shot on location at Harlem Shake,
New York. PHOTOGRAPHY: Tiffany Nicholson at Print &
Contact. STYLING: Lilli Millhiser at See Management.
HAIR AND MAKE-UP: Ashleigh Ciucci. PRODUCTION:
Nida Nizam. FASHION ASSISTANT: Lauren Walsh.
Aweng Chuol is represented by Models 1
to Australia, I watched the phone being thrown in anger as my parents
rowed about going. I watched as another phone was brought, so we
could get in touch with my grandfather who was already in Australia.
As young as I was, I was watching it all. It was hard on everyone.
When we arrived in Sydney, my mother never changed the script
of our childhood. I grew up in a South Sudanese community, and had
a happy childhood integrating well into this new Australian world.
So when I stood there, 1O years later, in a white studio in front of
Demna Gvasalia [the founder of Vetements], meeting his entire team,
I didn’t feel nervous or scared. In fact, I felt at home. As soon as I walked
in, he said, ‘Oh, Miss Australia is here!’ It immediately broke the ice.
There was a lot of laughter as we did a fitting for the show that evening.
I really had no time to be ner vous. E ver yone kept telling me to breathe,
but the first time I stepped out onto the catwalk, for the Vetements AW18
show, all I could think was, I have a law assignment due in two hours!
But right then I knew I had to focus on walking. I wasn’t used to walking
like a model and my velvet trousers went all the way over my shoes,
so I constantly felt as though I was about to fall.alking exclusively for Vetements was just the beginning. After
that first show, I raced back to my hotel, finished my law
assignment, sent it in and then fell asleep. I woke to news that
I’d been signed by agencies in Paris, Milan, New York and London,
all in one night. Since then I’ve seen the world, shooting with industry
legends and working with fashion houses such as Burberry.
Fashion has always been an art form for me; I’m in it for the art.
I’ve always admired how someone could sit down with a plain white
piece of paper and come back with all this colour and shape. One
of my favourite designers has always been Alexander McQueen –
I love the way he embodied a woman’s figure. As a child, I never knew
the names of all the biggest people in fashion, but when I saw a photo
that Peter Lindbergh took of Kate Moss in a magazine, I knew that
was beauty and I cut it out and
stuck it on my bedroom wall.
As I’ve settled into the industry,
what I love most is t hat it get s rebor n
each season. But I never imagined
myself actually working as a model.
I thought I’d do one show, then go
home and finish university, and that
would be it. So to have options,
and to be shot by someone like
Nick Knight – who’s always been
one of my top photographers- is still surreal. When they said,
‘Nick Knight wants you,’ I replied,
‘I’m on my way!’
Above everything else, it’s been important to be honest to myself
and to the world. I never wanted my story to be all about the refugee
girl who became a supermodel overnight. I wanted to shape my own
narrative. After all, I worked to make the best out of the situation. Most
people who came from Kakuma have a different perspective of the
camp. For some, it wasn’t the safe haven I saw it as, but that is their story,
for them to tell. For me, I found an escape from reality. You can’t change
the past – all you can do is grow from it.
ELLE.COM/UK April 2020