Akuac Thiep Channels Ngaren + Omo Valley in Timo Kerber Images for L'Officiel Singapore

PLEASE! Just take a space gun and shoot me into orbit!. Rising model Akuac Thiep stars in the August 2020 issue of L’Officiel Singapore, photographed by Timo Kerber and styled by David Evans. “Who is Akuac Thiep?” you ask.

Akuac’s dress is a creation of Sohee Park. a 24 year old fashion design and merchandising student hailing from Seoul, South Korea. More about Sohee Park here. Please investigate her prodigious talent. Will she apprentice at Alexander McQueen? Or head out on her own? She has Sarah Burton’s vision of Alexander McQueen in her blood, and they are definitely traveling on the same moonbeam. Park did work for some time with Marc Jacobs.

Besides being the latest incarnation of a primordial ancient goddess, Akuac Thiep comes from the London borough of Hackney, the daughter of parents from South Sudan. Apparently she left her University of Manchester program of studies in Anthropology with Comparative Religion, and is now modelling full-time.

Personally, I regret her departure from this program, as her heritage and obviously her academic interests put Akuac Thiep center stage in the evolution of human existence. She is in the creative arms of some of fashion’s most creative minds that include Nick Knight, Tim Walker and Lea Colombo. Read more at SHOWstudio.

When I suggested that brilliant minds just shoot me into the galaxy, it came in my visceral response to these images that immediately channel the nomadic Omo Valley people in southern Ethiopia — the foundation of my own creative vision.

One can barely discuss this concept in today’s politically-charged, as we walk on eggshells in our race-charged world. My visceral response comes from a place of respect and admiration and not white- privilege racism. That’s all I will say right now.

What I’ve never investigated for any extensive period of time is the connection— beyond geography — between South Sudan and southern Ethiopia. I have many puzzle pieces in my intellectual bank, but they are disorganized.

The best I can do at this moment is to share a video or two that will help AOC readers understand, not only my own personal philosophy about life and human existence, but how Africa is at the center of our human story.

This is the film of Ngaren. a new museum of humanity being created in Kenya. AOC has been part of it since our founding — and for decades before then. The creation of Ngaren makes it the most important museum in the world — yes, even more important than the Vatican. ~ Anne

Ngaren / Historic Collaboration between Richard Leakey and Daniel Libeskind