Who Wore What: The Deola Sagoe & Duro Olowu Edition

[Alek Wek in Deola Sagoe. Image via Haute Living]

Africa spotting is one of our favourite past times here at Shop Liquorice, and the WIE Ladies Night Cocktail Hour and Gala Dinner event this past Saturday is our latest playground. 

SLiq Picks: Alek Wek for Stylist Magazine

It's hardly a secret that we love Alek Wek here at Shop Liquorice (see past posts here), and while we don't see her featured as much these days, we love an Alek Wek editorial whenever we see one. Head on over to Stylist Magazine to see her shine all through her Alpha Female editorial, harnesses and all, and pick up some nuggets of wisdom from her interview:

How do you feel fashion has empowered you?

It’s opened so many doors for me. It’s given me a career. I’m able to pay my bills, help my family, travel the world and I’m very grateful for that. But the most humbling part is the voice it’s given me. I believe we should utilise any power we have for important issues that are bigger and beyond us. Whether it’s with refugees or working to educate kids. I don’t think you need to have gone through a civil war to do something. I believe as human beings we can look out for each other. That’s when I started to work with the US Committee for Refugees and Doctors Without Borders because they put their lives on the line to help save people.

Times were tough when you first started in the fashion industry. How did you keep going?

The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself too. I had only been out of Sudan six or seven years. I was catching up to a new culture and they totally embraced me. It’s not like I had an easy look. I had to pound the streets of New York with my book. I had two pairs of pants and no money.

More here.

- SLiq


Update:

Here's  a look at the available covers:

Spread Love: Alek Wek//Bullett Magazine

Been a while since we've seen Alek Wek in her (beauti-)full glory, but here she is again doing what she does in the Spring issue of Bullett Magazine.

And in case, like us, you haven't had enough, here she is dancing her heart out for Bullett TV:

We love Alek, we love Alek, we love...

- SLiq

Model Watch: The Life Rhapsodic, CK One, and Alek Wek

THE LIFE RHAPSODIC [MARCH 2011 VOGUE US EDITORIAL]

 A March US Vogue Editorial, The Life Rhapsodic, features models of the moment Ajak Deng, Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn, Anais Mali, Arlenis Sosa, and Chanel Iman. All-black casts have been a strong Vogue theme so far this year, as seen in editorials like Gangs of New York and Black Allure. Styled by Edward Enninful.

Cover Girl: Alek Wek//Dutch Glamour [July 2010]

It's no secret that we find Alek Wek endlessly charming so we were only too excited to see her delightful face on the cover of this month's Dutch Glamour. You may recall that she's also on this month's cover of Arise Magazine and blogosphere went a-buzzing over her May 2010 Financial Times spread. We certainly can't get enough. Absolutely LOVE!

XO

Photos:

Fashion Gone Rogue
Glamour

Cover Girl: Alek Wek//Arise [Issue 10]

The latest cover of Arise Magazine (Cover 10) features one of our favorite models EVER, Alek Wek. The world is abuzz with World Cup mania and Arise makes room for the first World Cup hosted on African soil. Wek is sporty chic in a black swimsuit, assortment of neon bangles and watches and her trademark crop. SO fab! The inner pages features other stunning models, including Oluchi Onweagba Orlandi who's super cute in her Nigerian jersey, short shorts and matching green/white/green nail varnish:

Girls will be girls and we love that that shone through even with a typically male-dominated theme. Looking forward to purchasing and reviewing this magazine, especially at its new significantly lower price.

Any other Arise lovers out there?

XO

Photos courtesy of Arise's Facebook Fan Page

Who Wore What: Alek Wek in Duro Olowu [Financial Times, May 2010]

Interestingly enough, several of the global/Africa-inspired spreads we've featured have included Duro Olowu pieces [see here and here]. This one is no different. We love the chic belted cardigan but not the way it's styled on Alek Wek -- a little too loose/sloppy for our taste. 

We wonder: will a day come when "tribal" editorials will feature other African designers? We know Duro's the darling of the fashion world but surely there's plenty of room for other talented folks!

XO

Photo from Duro Olowu's Spring 2010 collection courtesy of style.com

Spread Love: Alek Wek//Financial Times, "Global Gathering"//May 2010

Summer 2010 sees many editorials taking a tribal, global and/or Africa-inspired direction. The latest offerings come from a Financial Times spread ("Global Gathering") and features SLiq favorite Alek Wek in an assortment of prints. We especially love the strong geometric shapes, colors, Alek's versatility and the rustic backdrop, but we're not in love with every image. That said, see what you make of the shoot:

What do we think?

XO

Photos from:

Atelier Management

Who Wore What: Alek Wek in Deola Sagoe

We just saw these photos of Alek Wek promoting RED's new collaboration with Diptique candles and thought, "hmmmm, she has to be wearing Deola Sagoe!":

Who else brings aso-oke to life like DS? On top of that, we remembered the first issue [The Africa Issue] of Arise magazine and the fact that Alek Wek wore the same dress in her spread:

The combination of gold and blue aso-oke and the slightly clinched waist, shape and length of this dress  make it utter perfection. And who better to wear it than Alek Wek? Sigh. Really and truly, this has been one of the best weeks to blog ever. We're still counting down to the Arise Magazine African Collective III show on Saturday...and we really hope wherever Deola Sagoe is, she knows Alek Wek was out and about yesterday doing her justic.

XO

pieces of africa: intro + alek wek

[while we try to streamline the blog to make it more user-friendly, we're introducing new features and adapting old ones. today, we introduce our new "pieces of africa" feature, geared at e-housing the images, quotes, songs, historical anecdotes, etc. that remind us of home. today, we begin with alek wek.]

---

sudanese refugee turned super model, entrepreneur, all-round super woman alek wek -- because she reminds us that it's okay to stand out and be who we are without shame, to be bloody good at what we do, to smile often, and to laugh much, and to be without false pretenses; to be well-travelled and exposed without forgetting home, to remember, and to be memorable.

this is her story.

xo

spotlight: alek wek

[alek wek for i-d magazine]

the very striking alek wek caught our eyes several weeks ago and we thought we'd share. in the first photo (above), alek wek lends her grace and elegance to a modern interpretation of the "tribal" trend, complete with her mid-dance stance, her ubiquitous louis vuitton spicy sandals, her feather-covered louis vuitton top, and assorted stacked bangles. we're not too sure about the pile on her head and think photo would've been even more fascinating without it. all in all, alek wek brings a breath of fresh air to the "tribalness" of things and we can't say we're not pleased.

o o o

in photo 2, shot for vogue nippon, yellow has never been so beautiful against such a sharp canvas of gorgeous brown skin. her incredible smile seals the deal and makes this photo captivating in its simplicity.

thoughts?

xo

images: google images