ABOVE LEFT: Brown suede bag. ABOVE RIGHT: Eyeglasses’ holder. RIGHT: More designs from the Wek 1933 Limited fall 2003 collection.

 

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

   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)