by Brooke Varney
Every year there’s a model we seem to see on almost every catwalk at Fashion Weeks around the world. This year, that girl is Malaika Firth. Although taunted throughout her youth for being thin, she was determined to make something of herself, and started sending photos to modeling agencies when she was sixteen. It wasn’t until two years later that she made her London Fashion Week debut. Since then, the Kenyan beauty’s career has quickly taken off. In 2013 she shot her first ever ad campaign for Prada, making her the brand’s first black campaign model since Naomi Campbell. She can also currently be spotted in practically every magazine and on every London street alongside fellow “it” girl Cara Delevingne in Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2014/15 ad campaign.
Malaika Firth stars in Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2013 campaign.
Cara Delevingne is featured alongside Malaika Firth in Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2014 campaign.
Although very suddenly thrust into the spotlight and extremely accomplished, it seems as though the excitement and novelty of the high-fashion world still hasn’t worn off for the bubbly beauty. She’s talked of her admiration for the designers she walks for, saying, “Marc Jacobs is so cool – he smokes backstage! And Michael Kors is very nice, and he gives us bags!” Malaika’s also spoken of celebrities she’s crossed paths with, and how she still feels starstruck no matter who she meets. “She said ‘hi’ – Rihanna! And I hung out with Tinie Tempah once, too. And Naomi Campbell – but would you call her a celebrity? I wouldn’t: she’s a model.”
Malaika Firth walks for Marc Jacobs’ Spring 2015 collection at New York Fashion Week.
Malaika Firth for Michael Kors Spring 2015.
Malaika Firth closing for Giambattista Valli Spring 2015 at Paris Fashion Week.
Malaika Firth models Chanel’s Spring 2015 collection.
Malaika has proved to be just as lovely inside as she is on the outside, as she is putting together a charity to help children currently living in her Kenyan hometown. Whenever she travels back, she brings with her lots of food, drinks, school supplies, and shoes for the 60-70 children of her childhood Mombasa neighborhood. She reflects, “In modelling, it’s all so self-centred – it’s all about you. And I don’t want it to be all about me all the time. So when I go back to Kenya it’s all about the little kids. And that’s what makes me happy as well.” Talk about model behavior.
Malaika Firth poses with her equally model-esque cousins in her hometown of Mombasa, Kenya.