Alex Wek - Black Spotted Cow

Theres something about a black woman's story of struggle and emanicpation that i find so heartwrenching and unimaginably moving. the recent books i have found myself engrossed in, from Cupcake Brown's 'A peice of Cake' to Constance Briscoe's 'Ugly' all tell the story of struggles and strives that the authors (each now accomplished woman) had to go through.

woman originally went from being seen as these mythical figures of worship to then having their place at the bottom of the pecking order and while their been great advancement in various woman's movement, there is still subtle discrimination towards carried out towards them.

imagine then if not only you were a woman but were born black and in a war-torn undeveloped african country? This is exactly the situation that world renowed sudanese supermodel Alex Wek found herself in before she was discovered in London and signed to Models 1.

Alex meaning black spotted cow which is good luck in Sudan is the model that widened the traditinal boundaries of what was concieved as beauty! her flawless blue-back skin, her short hair and her brilliantly dazzling smile is a more primitaive beauty to the Naomi's,Kate's and Gisele's yet she is no less stunning.

I suppose to many she like the human form of marmite: you either get her striking, beautiful look or you don't. but what cannot be denied is how her look has entered the mainstream model world with every agency having at least one dark skinned, short haired girl a la Alex Wek. She broke the mould yet defined it at the same time.

Having been in the uper echelons of the fashion trade she has written a autobiographical book on the hardships she faced and still does and the Times posted the following extract and i think it's a must read! check it out here

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article2651426.ece