Adut Akech: The striking schoolgirl reclaiming her name on the catwalk

ARRIVING in Australia as a six-year-old refugee from South Sudan, Adut Akech was “Mary” until she decided to reclaim her name when launching a career in the fashion industry.

“I’m not Mary anymore. I want to be Adut; Adut is unique.” Photography by Steven Chee, styling by Gemma Keil, hair by Koh, make-up by Filomena Natoli.

ADUT Akech’s rise as a model is no fable about being plucked from obscurity after she was discovered in an unlikely setting. The Adelaide schoolgirl, who is balancing the demands of haute couture houses with Year 12 studies, was determined to make a name for herself in the industry from an early age.

The 17-year-old, who has recently returned from Paris Fashion Week, where she closed the Saint Laurent show, says she always had a “passion for fashion”, imagining she might be a stylist or designer. But a teacher suggested Akech would be more suited to strutting the catwalk.

Adut came to Australia as a refugee from South Sudan aged six.

“The only model I used to look up to was Alek Wek, but I didn’t know too much about modelling,” Akech tells Stellar. “It was actually my Year 7 teacher who kept telling me: ‘You would make a good model.’ I was 11 or 12, so I was like, ‘Sure.’”

It was on a trip to Melbourne last year that Akech paid a visit to one of Australia’s top agencies, hoping to be signed up.

“A friend of mine suggested Chadwick, and I was scared because I didn’t know if they would accept me; they didn’t have any dark-skinned girls [on their books]. I wasn’t really expecting that they would sign me, but they did. That’s where everything started off,” she says.

Picture: Steven Chee

Picture: Steven Chee

Picture: Steven Chee

Picture: Steven Chee

Martin Walsh, who heads up Chadwick, believes Akech’s personality sets her apart, and has seen her quickly establish close relationships with designers.

“Her approach is very professional and intelligent — she’s very refreshing,” Walsh says. “That’s something we noticed about her right off the bat, and she’s a pleasure to work with.”

Before her career was under way, there was one item high on the model’s agenda: to change her name.

Akech, who was born in South Sudan and came to Australia as a refugee at six years old, had previously used the name Mary. “I started going by the name Mary when I began high school, because teachers couldn’t pronounce my name,” she explains.

When it came to launching herself in the fashion industry, however, she wanted to be known by her birth name.

“I’m not Mary anymore,” she says. “I want to be Adut; Adut is unique.”

Originally published as Adut Akech: The striking schoolgirl reclaiming her name on the catwalk