In South Sudan, black models are sought by international agencies

A few phone shots from Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where we attended the South Sudan Fashion Week event. On the catwalk, models hope to be discovered by international scouts. South Sudanese models are very popular in the West; quite a few South Sudanese women became top models in the past years.

But while Western countries are looking for South Sudanese women and men for their dark skin, many South Sudanese believe lighter skin is more beautiful. They even bleach their skin, which leads to many health risks.

It’s an idea that stuck from when South Sudan and Sudan were still one country, and black people were discriminated against by Sudanese from the North (who also controlled what is now South Sudan).

But, as many people in Juba told us, because of the upcoming of black models in Europe and the US, young girls learn to love their black skin — they’re seeing that skin bleaching is done less by Gen Z’ers and millennials.

Read more by tapping on this Volkskrant link! With great pictures and videos by Guy Peterson.

New work: a profile of Tanzanian fashion designer Makeke

“I have always been fascinated by the African way of life. I dreamed at night about how it used to be, about life in the village. That 'African way of life' is my greatest source of inspiration. I go to sleep with it and wake up with it. My friends only look at America. What is Drake doing, what clothes is Kanye West wearing.. But if you ask me, they all look alike. My work is a counter-reaction to the visual violence thrown over us from the West.”

For Dutch daily Trouw, I interviewed Tanzanian fashion designer Jocktan Cosmas Malule, in Dar Es Salaam better known as ‘Makeke’. To read the full piece (in Dutch), click here. To read the Spanish version of the profile that has been published by El País, click here.

'This Is Not A F*cking Streetstyle Book' is here!

I'm proud to be a part of the newest lovechild of MENDO, Adam Katz Sinding and teNeues Publishing: 'This Is Not A Fucking Streetstyle Book'. The book features the amazing and fashionable pictures of Adam, aka 'Le 21eme'. My colleague Mikel was in charge of the texts and interviewed Adam Katz Sinding and Virgil Abloh. The editorial coordination was my responsibility.

As I'm writing this, Adam is flying over the world to launch the book in the following (insanely cool) stores: The Broken Arm (Paris),  KM20 (Moscow), STORY (Tel Aviv), The Room By Basmatée (Prague), Boonteshop (Seoul), GR8 (Tokyo), JUICE (Hong Kong), Harrolds (Sydney), 424 (Los Angeles), STORM (Copenhagen), SMETS (Luxembourg), BASTIEN (Madrid), THE STORE, Soho House (Berlin), VIER (Antwerp), KITH (New York City) and of course MENDO & Olaf Hussein (Amsterdam). 

The book is for sale at the above listed stores and online, in the award winning MENDO webshop. Check out this article by VICE to read more about the book and the tour.