00:00Haute Couture in Paris, the height of the fashion world.
00:05Only selected designers get to show their hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind garments
00:09in front of international stars like American rapper Cardi B.
00:14In the middle of it all is Sudanese model Ajak Dieu.
00:18The 24-year-old is walking the runway for Indian designer Raoul Mishra
00:23and trying to stay cool about it all.
00:27Like, don't fall. Be calm. Enjoy the runway. It's your moment.
00:34And I think about other things. I don't want to look at the audience.
00:38I don't want to get stressed. I don't want to get nervous.
00:41I think about my face. Like, give a nice look. Don't look rude. Look happy.
00:49Ajak Dieu has already walked in more than 100 runway shows
00:52and has been featured on numerous magazine covers,
00:55most recently the July 2026 edition of Vogue Portugal.
00:59That made someone special very proud.
01:01My grandma was so happy. She's like, oh my God, you're in Paris.
01:06So every time I do a magazine and I get my magazine, I show it to my grandma.
01:10And I say, I'm the cover. I'm this. And I show her and she's so proud.
01:16Ajak Dieu was born in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
01:20When she was nine, her family moved to Uganda, where she was discovered by a model scout at the age
01:25of 19.
01:26But modeling had never been an ambition of hers.
01:30I was with my friend. We went to the to the mall.
01:34A random person walked to me and said, do you want to be a model?
01:37And I was like, no. Yeah, because I was young.
01:41And he said, let's try. And my friend said, let's try.
01:43So I try it and it works. And I'm here in Paris, taking my coffee.
01:51Ajak moved to Paris in the autumn of 2025.
01:54Working as a model has changed her life radically.
01:59I really don't know how to explain it, but it's so hard.
02:02You don't know what you're doing like tomorrow.
02:04I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow.
02:06The agency doesn't know what I'm doing tomorrow.
02:08It's a last minute thing. Like, yeah, nobody knows.
02:12It's fashion week.
02:14Models like Ajak, with backgrounds in Sudan or South Sudan,
02:18have a big presence on the world's runways.
02:21Nine of the top 50 most successful models currently working
02:25have roots in the region.
02:28People in Sudan or Ethiopia and that part of the world
02:31have the frame to make clothes look good.
02:35I think there's never been more diversity in the models on the runway.
02:40Certain designers who before only used European or precaution models
02:44and were criticized by social media are now very careful not to do that again.
02:50Ten years ago, if you went to a Prada show, they were all white women.
02:53That's no longer the case.
02:55You get the impression that we are only now discovering that African women are beautiful.
02:59But they always have been and they've always been around.
03:01But for a long time they weren't represented by any agencies.
03:04The agencies turned them down because they were black.
03:07Now the trend has changed.
03:10Top model Anukiai has roots in South Sudan and was voted Model of the Year for 2025.
03:17She's considered a trailblazer for the visibility of black models in the fashion industry.
03:25The personality who has influenced me the most recently is Anukiai.
03:30I think a lot of people believe that if Anukiai is so successful then we can book more like her.
03:36When I was small, I wished I could see more models like her in advertising, on TV, simply so I
03:42could identify with them.
03:43I'm happy about this shift.
03:47Ajak Dieu is also grateful for what she has achieved.
03:52It's a privilege to be here, to go to different countries, to do many things that I couldn't do back
03:58home.
03:59Yeah, so yes, it is.
04:03Ajak sees her future in both Africa and Europe.
04:08In the next 10 years, I don't know, I'm gonna live here and live there too at the same time.
04:12I don't know, I'm gonna make it work out.
04:13My family lives in Uganda, all of them.
04:15I miss them a lot.
04:16And I was talking to one of them like a few minutes ago, texting with them.
04:22She still dreams of walking the runway for one of the most famous fashion houses in Paris.
04:27It's Balenciaga.
04:29It's my dream.
04:30I love Balenciaga.
04:31Maybe in the future.
04:33Yes.
04:34At the Haute Couture Week in July 2026, Anouk Yai opened the Balenciaga show with the first collection by its
04:40new creative director, Pia Paolo Piccoli.
04:43And she closed the show with the traditional bridal gown.
04:48So maybe Ajak Dieu's dream is not so far off, and she'll be in the house's next show.
04:54But first, she's taking a vacation to see her family in Uganda.
05:03nasties, I'm going to show you as such.
05:03We have to residence all my my friends as Wolverine was Hall.
05:03Apparently you're praying, he was saying.
05:03We built the dangerous thing in your house, so a cloak of Alice has discriminated.
05:04Thank you so far.
