South Sudanese Model Nykhor Paul: ‘It’s 2015 — It’s OK to be Black’

Model and activist Nykhor Paul. (Photo: Instagram)

26-year-old South Sudanese model Nykhor Paul went viral last week with her bold Instagram post calling out professional makeup artists at fashion shows for not having makeup that matched her skin color. “Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don’t have to do anything but show up?” she wrote. “A good makeup artist would come prepare and do their research before coming to work because oftentimes you know what to expect especially at a show!” With 10 years of modeling under her belt, Paul is using social media and modeling as platforms to get the message out about discrimination in the fashion industry.

“Where I come from, we’re, like, the darkest people in the world. After years of dealing with that, you get tired,” she tells Yahoo Beauty, noting that her lips are naturally pitch black and don’t require lipstick — just a touch of gloss. “Why am I part of fashion if I’m not a priority? If I’m a burden, why am I part of it?” Paul is a big part of it, modeling for a host of global outlets including Elle South Africa, Flaunt, i-D, and Glamour Italia, along with campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Desigual, and on the runway for Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Dennis Basso, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Issey Miyake. Paul is intent on using modeling as a platform to promote dark-skinned beauty beyond just Lupita Nyong’o and Alek Wek, and to also raise awareness for Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia. Her mother, father, and little sister still live in daily fear of conflict in refugee camps, and she wants to use her platform to spotlight the problems of that part of the world.

Nykhor Paul on the cover of Elle South Africa. (Photo: Isiko Media)

Paul was born in Sudan but fled to the Ethiopian border at an early age to escape the North-South conflict. She left her immediate family around age 10 when she moved to the United States with her aunt and uncle. “After all that struggle with starvation and sickness and war, my family decided that it was best for me to come stateside without knowing what it would entail or mean,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “We can’t all die in the refugee camps, so they thought, when she grows up, she can either help us or help herself.” The childhood stay with her aunt and uncle didn’t last long, from seventh grade until high school graduation, Paul went through a total of six foster parents.

She did not become reunited with her parents until 16 years later, when she, as an ambassador for humanitarian nonprofit International Rescue Committee, went back to Ethiopia and found her parents living in one of the refugee camps. Now that she’s finally an American citizen, she’s hoping to bring them back to the States.

Paul was scouted as a model at age 14. “When I was learning English in Nebraska at 12 years old, everyone was like, you need to be a model!” she says. “I was like, what is modeling? I’m trying to learn English!” Paul got a partial scholarship to university, where she studied psychology and biology, but tells Yahoo Beauty that she dropped out after financial hardship, even after working two part-time jobs.

Nykhor Paul pictured in back of this Steven Meisel-shot campaign for Louis Vuitton Spring 2013. (Photo: LVMH)

In 2008, after leaving school, she moved to New York City to pursue modeling full-time — where she discovered that work was sporadic due to the ebbing popularity of her self-described “blue black” skin color. Makeup artists were not welcoming with their prepared kits, either. “I was encountering this problem right away,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “I couldn’t go to the drugstore for a brand.” Some of the issues involving her skin including inconsistent castings during seasons when darker skin was deemed “unfashionable,” imperfect makeup applications due to makeup artist not having the right shades, and having to pack her own makeup kit to compensate. “Even the powder they use is too light for me,” she says. One time, she even needed to mix black eyeliner with the foundation to get the right shade. “I don’t need to wear a lot of makeup — I have gorgeous skin,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “But that doesn’t mean it’s okay for makeup artists to not carry my skin color when I’m cast for a show.” Paul recommends brands like Giorgio Armani, Bobbi Brown, Iman, MAC, Makeup For Ever, Black Opal, Lancôme, and Clinique. The selection is readily available, but many makeup artists are still not prepared to work with skin as dark as Paul’s.

“It’s 2015. It’s okay if you’re blue black. It’s okay if you’re purple black, It’s okay if you’re midnight black. It’s okay to be black,” she tells Yahoo Beauty. “I’m caught between the modeling industry and the conflict in Sudan, two different worlds that are ugly. I’m not afraid of speaking out because these two worlds are all I know.”

Disclaimer: Bobbi Brown is the editor in chief of Yahoo Beauty.

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