From a Refugee Camp to Chanel's Runway
Adut Akech was born in a refugee camp in South Sudan. She was resettled in Adelaide, Australia, as a child. By the time she was 20, she had been named Model of the Year by the British Fashion Awards and had become Karl Lagerfeld's final muse — the last model the legendary Chanel designer championed before his death.
Her story is one of the most extraordinary in the history of fashion.
The Kakuma Years
Born in 1999 in Kakuma, a refugee camp in northwestern Kenya that houses South Sudanese refugees fleeing civil war, Akech spent her earliest years in conditions of extreme deprivation. The camp — one of the largest in the world — offered safety but little else.
When she was seven, her family was resettled in Adelaide, South Australia, through Australia's refugee resettlement program. The transition from a Kenyan refugee camp to an Australian suburb was disorienting, but Adelaide gave Akech something Kakuma could not: stability and opportunity.
The Discovery
Akech was scouted at a church event in Adelaide when she was 16. Her height — 5'11" — and her striking features attracted attention immediately. Within a year, she was signed with an agency and had relocated to the international modeling circuit.
Her debut was not gradual. It was explosive:
- Walked for Saint Laurent in her first major show
- Made her Chanel debut shortly after — and became a Lagerfeld favorite
- Featured in Valentino's landmark all-Black couture show in 2019
- Named Model of the Year at the 2019 British Fashion Awards
The Lagerfeld Connection
Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel, was famously selective about his muses. In the final years of his life, he chose Akech. She walked multiple Chanel couture and ready-to-wear shows, appeared in Chanel campaigns, and was personally championed by Lagerfeld.
When Lagerfeld died in February 2019, Akech's tribute to him was widely shared: she described him as someone who saw her talent and did not see her background as a limitation. For a South Sudanese refugee to become the final muse of fashion's most powerful figure was a narrative that transcended the industry.
The Career
Akech's resume reads like a catalog of the decade's most important fashion moments:
- Chanel couture regular — one of the house's most prominent models
- Walked for Valentino, Givenchy, Prada, Versace, and Alexander McQueen
- Covers of British Vogue, American Vogue, Vogue Italia, and i-D
- Featured in campaigns for Chanel, Valentino, and Estee Lauder
- Named on multiple "Models of the Year" lists by major publications
The Voice
Akech has used her platform to speak about issues close to her experience:
- Refugee rights and resettlement — she has been an advocate for UNHCR
- Anti-Black racism in the fashion industry and in Australia
- South Sudanese identity and the importance of cultural pride
- Media misrepresentation — she publicly called out a magazine that used another Black model's photo with her name
Her advocacy is direct and unapologetic. She does not separate her modeling career from her identity as a former refugee. She insists that both are part of the same story.
Why She Matters
Adut Akech's journey from Kakuma to Chanel is not just an inspiring personal narrative. It is a challenge to every assumption the fashion industry holds about where beauty and talent originate. The world's most exclusive runway cast a girl from a refugee camp — and she became its biggest star.
Born in a refugee camp. Named Model of the Year. Karl Lagerfeld's final muse. Adut Akech is proof that greatness has no address.