Adwoa Aboah has just
finished a stellar catwalk season. No doubt her biggest yet. In New York
she walked for Marc Jacobs and Coach; London: Topshop and Erdem; Milan:
Versace and Fendi; and in Paris she made her debuts at Dior and Chanel -
amongst many, many others. Currently, her face is also found on the
cover of American Vogue, nestled between a diverse crop of women, nine years after she made her debut in British Vogue,
shot by David Mushegain. To top it all off, today she has been
announced as the face of the latest Versus campaign starring alongside
Zayn and photographed by Gigi Hadid.
While her striking looks and cool-girl credentials are capturing the
attention of the world's biggest brands, it's the 24-year-old's project
Gurls Talk that's speaking to real women. Set up in 2015, Gurls Talk
aims - through sharing experiences in trusting environments - to foster a
space that will encourage and empower young women facing the trials and
tribulations of 21st-century pressures. Head to the Instagram to see
snaps from schools Adwoa has spoken in and empowering messages from a
whole array of field-leading women.
Adwoa's influence is heavily felt off the catwalk. During London Fashion Week, she sat down with Black-ish
actress Yara Shahidi to discuss all manner of things affecting young
women today, coinciding with their joint cover of ASOS magazine, which
she interviewed the actress for.
"Yara was always doing the cover of the issue and then I came into
the picture. We’d never met each other before but we stand for a lot of
the same things and it was just having this lovely middle ground.
Instead of just having a simple interview, it was a really lovely moment
where we sat on her bed in LA and just got to know each other. It just
felt a bit more personal."
The event that was also broadcast on Facebook Live
with anyone able to ask questions and has now been watched by over
100,000 people. "Not that you'd even know it because Yara is so grounded
and mature, but she’s a lot younger than me," she told us. "I think
that's what comes to mind when I think about sharing knowledge with her
is that it’s thinking about the next generation. How it really
starts in schools and it starts with changing how one's brain works. How
we think we should all go about things, because actually I think it’s
more so about putting that knowledge onto the next generation."
Since founding Gurls Talk, Adwoa has shifted roles often becoming the
one asking the questions. How does she feel about the change in
equilibrium? "I love it. The first time I did it was when I did a
documentary last year. It’s a journey for me as well, about
understanding and looking at how I think about things and learning from
other people instead of it just being my point of view and me. I really
enjoy it, I kind of like prefer it actually."
Watching her
documentaries and even engaging with Adwoa, it's clear that she has a
vested interest in other people and a desire to help those that have
been through similar struggles as she did as a young woman. In a
courageous video interview in April 2016, she opened up for the first
time about her own battle with depression, addiction and suicide attempt
the previous October.
Returning to the topic of Fashion Week, our conversation turns quickly
to the number of young female designers emerging out of London, which
Adwoa has long worked with and has championed their designs at
high-profile events. "Even when I first started modelling my loyalty to
those girls like Molly Goddard, Ashley Williams and Dilara Findikoglu
was important. I like to support them as much as I can. For me, it’s as
important to walk in their show or wearing their clothes as it is doing a
Marc Jacobs show."
On the note of the Marc Jacobs's New York Fashion Week show (a
stripped-back set with no soundtrack that made way for a collection
highly influenced by music and some of the most diverse and inclusive
casting of the season), Adwoa muses: "The kind of applause he got was
amazing and there was just full concentration on the girls. Slick opened
the show - she’s one of my close friends - and that just shows how
things are changing so much. The fact that someone that unique, cool and
with personality can open the Marc Jacobs show - I mean that in itself
is sick."
The daughter of an English mother and Ghanian father, does she feel
that the fashion world is moving in the right direction when it comes to
diversity? "It’s really important. I’ve been really lucky with the
shows that I’ve done and the diverse line-ups I’ve been included in. The
girls have been, like, on another level so that’s been so cool. But, it
is I think that all of these things go hand in hand and wherever we can
work some sort of change, whether it be in fashion or in whatever kind
of career path you choose to take, I think it’s important that we do it
now."
"It's celebrating personalities, celebrating diversity,
celebrating shapes and sizes and looking at a bigger picture in all
senses", she elaborated. Yes, it's the clothes that you’re wearing, but
how can you take that further with the girls that you have and the
shapes that you have in the clothes? What message are you putting out
there to all those people that are looking at your show and looking at
those photos or listening to your music or watching your films or
reading your books? It’s just - I think - really looking at the bigger
picture and taking responsibility for everything."
You can support Adwoa's Gurl Talk project here.
Are
you a young activist or passionate about a project that you think Miss
Vogue should know about? Get in touch with us by emailing:
vogueletters@condenast.co.uk with the subject line Girl On A Mission.
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