Alek Wek: One of the Beautiful People
Although it was a huge amount of work—work that had to be done around Wek’s peripatetic lifestyle, working as a model and with the United Nations Humanitarian Committee on Refugees—it was a project that Wek relished. Prior to being discovered as a teenager by a modeling scout in London, she was a university student majoring in art history, so working on an historic brownstone was perfect for her. “I love things with history. I like it to be a canvas. And this inspired me to start painting again. I needed it for when I was alone on the road. I needed to be doing something to fulfill my soul.” Never one to be involved in one creative outlet when she could be involved in two or more, Wek used these new paintings as the basis for the linings in the handbags she designs, WEK1933.