Top 119 Quotes & Sayings by Alek Wek
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British designer Alek Wek.
Last updated on December 23, 2024.
You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I am very grateful that my mother brought me up that way.
Many live to eat, instead of the other way around.
I was working part-time as a cleaner while I was going to college and then babysitting after school.
I've seen mothers and children really being vulnerable in the refugee camps; it's supposed to be temporary, but they end up having children who have grown up in refugee camps.
I've always loved to paint - I was studying to do an art degree when I was approached to become a model - and I've being doing some design work as well. I also love just having a quiet time, sitting in my little library at home in Brooklyn and reading or watching documentaries or listening to music.
True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others.
I don't even know where to start in terms of people having such an issue about color, especially being dark. I just think on different levels it's ignorance; it's no belief, no confidence, it's insecurity, so you want to inflict it on somebody else.
When I first started modeling, I realised I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry.
There's one thing we all share: We eat to nurture ourselves, to feel stronger.
Whenever I feel I am going through my own 'little' challenging moment, I just think about my mom.
Restaurants serve huge portions on even huger platters, and people are tempted to eat too much.
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.
When you give, you receive.
It's sometimes tiring to get off a long-haul flight and go straight to the studio for a shoot, but if you really plan everything well, you can get so much out of combining travel with work.
We eat to live.
When I was a girl, civil war in Sudan forced me to flee my home town of Wau.
It's a small world when you're from South Sudan.
I grew up in southern Sudan, one of nine children. Our life was simple but very happy.
When I started, I'd hear other people saying, 'God, she's so bizarre-looking,' because I didn't look like the girl next door. But I was just normal. I was the girl next door. There were people in high fashion I could better relate to who were doing something more interesting and not talking this sort of rubbish.
I still have dreams in which someone is coming to the door.
When I started modeling, it was like, 'Oh, she's too dark,' and I kind of looked at them like, 'You're too daft.'
I like unique little boutique hotels, such as Blakes in London.
My experience as a refugee had made me strong; I could survive anything, even the world of fashion.
Beauty is subjective and should not be limited to only what we see on the outside.
My mother always has embedded in us that you guys rock in different ways, and to be able to celebrate that with each other is just beautiful.
Don't focus on negative things; focus on the positive, and you will flourish.
Black girls, I feel, rock, in so many ways, especially coming from five girls.
The day you stop enjoying something is the day you should quit, if you can afford to.
I have short hair. It doesn't make me more unattractive than a woman or my sisters that have more longer hair and a bit lighter.
Going on safari in South Africa was hardcore but a lot of fun - though my friend Maura was absolutely freaking out about all the bugs in her hair and having to pee in the sand.
War tore my family apart.
When I was growing up, my mother taught me and my sisters to celebrate each other - there was no room in our household for negativity. She taught us to embrace each other, and this was empowering for us. She also taught us the value of celebrating our differences.
London is like my second home. I've still got friends there from school and from when I first started in the modelling business - people such as Karen Elson, Jasmine Guinness, Jade Parfitt.
When I was working, there was no digital. We actually worked; we used Polaroids.
I think the fashion industry has gotten to a place where it is embarrassing.
You can feel very strongly that someone doesn't like you. I think any model who didn't have the same sort of upbringing as me would find that very difficult. But I absolutely knew I was entitled. I never thought I was ugly - it never crossed my mind.
It's an awful feeling, being hungry.
In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag to bring the leftovers home.
I love cooking. I love having friends around.
I've eight brothers and sisters - five girls, four boys. I am the seventh.
I grew up in a small town in Sudan. There weren't many cars, so we did things in the countryside near where we lived.
The beauty of reading is that it lets you travel in a way you could never know.
When I was 14, I came to school in London. I remember it was very cold, but also having to adjust and become fluent in English.
At times, we take freedom for granted. We really don't know how to cherish the freedom we have until it's taken from us.
I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.
I like to accept it all, the negative and the positive.
There was no concept of fashion and catwalk shows where I came from.
My commitment to refugees comes from a very personal place.
You've got to make yourself happy. I'm a happy person naturally.
I don't understand when people are being greedy or mean, when they say who should get what, when they get control of someone else's life.
There are tons of black girls modeling, and each one is special.
I am not really into buying a lot of expensive things.
Everything has to do with education: If you educate the girls, you educate the family, the community, and society, in general.
When I think of 'Instagram models,' I say you have to take baby steps. You cannot just walk straight onto the runway.
When I talk, it shouldn't just be black girls listening.
The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by.
I'm an artist at heart.
All the exhausting aspects of my job are made worthwhile because I get to experience so many different cultures. It makes you really appreciate the memories.
My life was filled with family in South Sudan. I am the seventh of nine children, and we grew up in what would be considered a middle-class family. We did not have a lot, but we did have more than a lot of other people.
Starting modeling in the '90s, it was quite surreal. They were like, 'You're so different! So weird! So bizarre!' And I'm like, 'I'm so normal. What are you talking about?'
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