Adut Akech is a South Sudanese-Australian fashion model whose lingerie work came late and in a specific form: she was one of the faces Victoria's Secret chose in 2022 and 2023, when the brand rebuilt its image after scrapping its televised runway show. She was born in Sudan in 1999, in an area that later became part of South Sudan, and she is best known for her runway record at Saint Laurent, Valentino and other Paris houses.
A refugee childhood, then Adelaide
Akech grew up in Kakuma, the refugee settlement in northwestern Kenya. At seven she left with her mother for Adelaide, South Australia, where the family settled as South Sudanese refugees seeking asylum. Local agencies tried to sign her at 13 and 14. She waited, and at 16 joined Chadwick Models in Sydney, which became her mother agency.
Melbourne to the Saint Laurent runway
Her first catwalk was a small local show organized by her aunt. Melbourne Fashion Week followed, and there she took the digital photographs that went to a Saint Laurent casting in Paris. The booking came through while she was back home in Adelaide; she flew to Paris the next day and opened her international career at the Saint Laurent spring/summer 2017 show, then signed with Elite Model Management in Paris. She went on to close two Saint Laurent shows and to walk for Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Prada, Miu Miu and Valentino.
Model of the Year, three times over
Models.com named Akech its Model of the Year in 2018 and again in 2019. On December 2, 2019, the British Fashion Awards gave her the same title. The same year she was on the September cover of British Vogue guest-edited by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and she began working with the United Nations refugee agency.
The Victoria's Secret recasting
For a lingerie history, the relevant chapter starts in 2022. Victoria's Secret had cancelled its fashion show in 2019 after years of falling ratings, and it spent the following seasons replacing the old Angel lineup with a broader cast. Akech appeared in the brand's fall 2022 campaigns and again in 2023, in a campaign alongside Naomi Campbell. The 2023 Icons campaign put her next to former Angels such as Gisele Bündchen and Adriana Lima, as well as newer names like Paloma Elsesser.
The casting said something about the brand more than about her. Victoria's Secret in its television years built its look around a contracted group of Angels. Akech came from the editorial and couture side of the business, with no history in lingerie catalogs, and her presence in the 2022 and 2023 imagery was part of the company's effort to look like the rest of fashion again.
Later covers
In May 2023 she was one of the models on the American Vogue cover honoring Karl Lagerfeld, and in March 2024 British Vogue put her among 40 industry figures on its anniversary covers. In 2024 she also fronted a Valentino perfume campaign, which keeps her firmly in the luxury end of the trade rather than the lingerie aisle.