Mamor Majeng, a former child soldier who became a star model

He has ebony skin and the dark gaze of someone who has seen too much. In the shadow of war, where sometimes hope seems to fade, a star has appeared. Mamuor Awak Majeng, who turned 21 on January 29, is truly a rising star in the fashion world. With 59 fashion week appearances, she is the most in-demand model of 2023. From the Sudanese civil war, nothing seemed to predispose this former child soldier to the glamor of fashion shows. In just two years, however, it became an anthem of surviving beauty, of history being rewritten.

The earthquake started three years ago. At the time, the teenager had posted videos on Instagram from his village in South Sudan, where he was dancing and making music. These fall under the experienced eye of Yves Constant.model scout” (a professional who discovers new talents, editor’s note), specialist in country models. Moss Majeng hesitated for a year, fearing fraud. He will talk about it with his mother only after receiving a visa and travel date from the Elite agency, as reported by AFP. His mother is worried that the eldest of the siblings, the “man of the family” so to speak, is leaving. He promises her that he will never let them down, and then leaves the country, and the war that shakes it.

Muse Balmain

Two years followed, during which Mamur Majeng modeled for major designers: Balenciaga, Kenzo, Bottega Veneta, Acne Studios, Rick Owens and dozens more, sometimes with multiple appearances in the same show. She became the muse of Balmain, whose last show she opened, and created the biggest catwalks of the last Fashion Week: Louis Vuitton for Pharrell Williams, Maison Margiela for John Galliano or Jacquemus in Nice. On January 23, in the middle of haute couture week in Paris, another page was opened, it was backstage at her own fashion show that she was shaking. The model, still vibrating with the beauty of her country, became a designer. He explains to AFP, with a smile that reveals his grillz (removable dental jewelry, editor’s note) Gold. “I thought I was going to be a model all my life, but I started thinking I should do something.”

First parade

Perhaps it is in this first fully funded parade, called the War Zone, that the atrocities he never talks about come to light. Little is known about his past as a child soldier at the heart of Sudan’s civil war, which has claimed more than 380,000 lives since 2020, according to AFP. When questioned on the subject, he describes this past as a “difficult experience,” without elaborating. Without a lexicon, they paint them, giving curves, materials and a scene: Espace Niemeyer, Place du Colonel Fabien in Paris. Thus, a cruel allegory is sounded on the pulpit. The camouflage patterns symbolize the memory of his childhood enemies who plundered his people; the black doll under the mannequin’s arm represents her or each of her siblings, whom her mother carries to protect them from war;

Mamur Majeng then arrives to greet the public in white fur, nodding to the animal skins on which members of his ethnic group, the Dinka, sleep. He collapses. The one who left the violence has become the adopted child in the center of attention. Five days after his father’s death, in homage to his roots, Mamur Majeng stands as a symbol of resilience.

Behind the scenes of Mamuor Majeng brand’s first 1/2 Mamuor fashion show shot by Elite Models in the video.