COLOUR YOUR WORLD

WITH

NOIR THE AGENCY

6 models from noir the agency and i headed to auckland city's commercial bay to literally bring colour into the cbd. until recent years, i would never see models of colour on billboards or store campaigns in central auckland.

AOTEAROA IS A MELTING POT OF DIVERSE CULTURES AND ADVERTISING IN COMMERCIAL SPACES SHOULD REFLECT THIS.

MUCH LIKE THE MANY PASSERBY'S & SHOPPERS WHO STOPPED US TO LEARN ABOUT OUR MODELS AND AGENCY; AOTEAROA IS also READY TO EMBRACE MODELS OF COLOUR.

our models shared what being a model of colour means to them & the importance of this representation in the fashion & beauty industries.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE TEAM AT COMMERCIAL BAY.

LOCATION: commercial bay, auckland city

creative director, Photography

& make up:

Chichi nyangoni

Models:

awer yout

favour ukah

frances bureta

kudzai biri

masego wilford

samuel gak

Being a Model of Colour means owning what makes me different with confidence. This boils down to loving and accepting my body type, from my walk, to my larger than life, laugh. The camera sees everything and body language gives anything away, that gives incentive to rid myself from feelings of inferiority and insecurities. Confidence and self-acceptance demand space, there is no room for negative-self perception. This will give whoever is watching, similar or different to me the boldness to be bold in how they were made.

Discovering the agency was Black-owned was a shock, even though I could see Chichi's name signed off, I made excuses that maybe some Europeans were very creative with naming. I don't want it to be a shock anymore that people of colour are occupying different spaces. Aspects of my appearance that faced adversity growing up, which society is embracing or even desiring is still registering to me. Though, the media has begun desiring these features, they are still not necessarily desired on a person of colour.

I want to be part of a movement that represents for a generation that does not have to live with the transition of finally being accepted, but normalising appearances of people like them in mainstream pop culture.

I recently discovered I have a curved spine, it is visible when I show my back but hidden until I bring it up. As if I could not get any different. But I want to own all of it. I will be that model with the curved spine, but can lift twice her body weight, with melanin skin, and be under the typical desired 5'7 height. I will be petite but curvy, with my luscious lips, and 4C hair. I will continue loving and embracing my body for it is the home I will live and die in. I will be the beholder of my own beauty.

Being part of NOIR has been awespiring and a revelation that I have to be what I promote, which is self-accepting, I need to embody that. We live in a world where beauty comes in various shapes, colours, and sizes I cannot imagine why we would want people to look the same, how boring that would be.

A space has been created where it is safe and promoted to be me. Being a Model of Colour is a challenge to accept all parts of myself with grace, and kindness, and I accept the challenge.

- Kudzai Biri

Being a Model of Colour means;

Disrupting the status quo

Making ‘them’ feel uncomfortable

Dismantling European beauty standards

It means;

Celebrating myself first

Allowing myself to exist the way I am

Being kind to myself when the world isn’t

Protecting my hair

Allowing my ebony skin to glow like she’s designed to

It means;

Reminding young black girls that their skin is beautiful

Their hair is just right

Their size is needed

- Favour Ukah

Being a model of colour for me is great because not only am I entering the mind of a

creative designer and seeing what inspired them to have this idea but I am also being

part of their work, and having the colour of my skin; it gives me confidence to wear it everyday.

- Awer Yout

Personally, I think that idea of “Model of Colour” means Equal opportunities, Hope, Change of Mindset, Revolution and Beauty. Change of Mindset as it is hard for any person of colour to get equal opportunities to their counterparts, especially in the modelling and beauty industries. But I believe that slowly but surely things are changing for the better. It has been hard for models of colour to penetrate the market because they have been regarded as NOT beautiful.

They have to work twice as hard to be seen and given the opportunities to showcase their talents in this cut throat industry. It got to a point where some were not comfortable wearing their natural hair to jobs and resorted to straightening their hair with chemicals just to get THAT job. Recently there has been a change of mindset, more and more Models of colour have started wearing their natural hair and embracing themselves.

I think now models of colour know they are beautiful the way they are. Once upon a time, no make- up matched their skin tones. I have seen some documentaries on models of colour where they are sad because make-up artists have to mix different tones to try to match their skin tone. Gone are those days, many doors and opportunities have been opened by people like Rihanna to help people of colour feel good about who they are through make-up that matches their skin tones.

Models have varieties of make-up to choose from and that helps them be comfortable in their skin and most of all feel Beautiful. Being a model of colour also means Beauty Revolution and Hope People like Naomi Campbell have paved a way for others. I Hope that things will change in a positive direction. We still have a long way to go but there have been some changes and diversity in the modelling industry recently. Whenever I see Black models like Dukkie Thot, and Adut Akech, to name a few in magazines and tv, I smile and say to myself “there is hope for models of colour”.

- Masego Wilford

As a Polynesian woman living with brown skin, I always felt like the world had a biased reaction to women of colour.

Growing up with sisters whose skin colour ranged from white to tan. Made me question my skin. “Why am I darker? Or why can’t I have the same skin colour as them?

All these emotions ran wildly in my mind as a young girl, because I had no one to tell me why I looked different. I struggled growing up accepting my skin colour and suffered in silence because I wasn’t able to open up.

Now that I’m a lot older, I have discovered my true identity and my place in this world. I learnt to accept my skin not because I had to, but I had to show my son that our colour doesn’t define who we are in this world.

I wanted to break that cycle of society where the beauty standard was light skin, tall, small waist etc. Our younger generation deserves to know that the darker you look, doesn’t always mean the lower your place in the social hierarchy. Darker skin is not a badge of shame, but a masterpiece created by God.

So if I could give my younger self advice, it would be to wear your skin with pride and to always be comfortable in your own skin. Because that’s what really makes you beautiful in this world. Just having skin as dark as chocolate is the best accessory to wear as a young girl.

So just remember the world will always decide what’s beautiful and it’s a mystery we will never understand. But in order for us to make that change, we must start by having open discussions with our kids about our skin colour and normalise that god made us into all different colours.

So, being a model of colour means showing people that my Polynesian roots run vainly through my skin. The skin that my parents gave me but it was I who moulded my identity and was ready for the world too see.

My brown skin I accept because that’s what makes me unique in this world. Like Beyoncé said “Brown skin girl, your skin just like pearls is the best thing in the world. Never trade you for anybody else”

- Frances Bureta