From Uasin Gishu to the world: Caren Jepkemei Kogo excels in modelling

 

Dressed in black, she appears at ease, striking a pose that is neither too extravagant nor too reserved. She seems to have the world at her feet.

This is 22-year-old Caren Jepkemei Kogo as portrayed on the cover of the Vogue Italia magazine last month. She stands alongside Ethiopian model Akway Amar.

That Caren, a model from a conservative Adventist family who grew up in Uasin Gishu County, is today on the cover of a top magazine is no mean feat. She said as much when she first tweeted about it.

“Finally I’ve had a big dream come true,” she posted on May 4. “So proud to have finally made it to the cover of Vogue Italy with my sister Amar from Ethiopia.”

That appearance is not her only achievement in the top-grossing fashion industry in Europe. Caren has modelled for big designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Maison Valentino, Ferragamo, Fendi and Vivienne Westwood. Having done all that in only two years in the industry, the future looks bright for the London-based model.

An alumnus of All Saints Kebulonik Academy in Nandi County and Our Lady of Victory Kapnyeberai High School in Uasin Gishu, Caren’s love for modelling started when she was eight.

Caren Jepkemei Kogo, a Kenyan high-fashion model in Europe, during a shoot for the Halpern clothing brand. 

Pool

Fashion events

Glued to fashion TV, she was mesmerised by the details in fashion events: the model, the outfits and locations. Whenever she watched these shows by herself, she would try to mimic the movements and poses.

“If someone walked in while I was in the middle of a walk, I would act like I was going to grab water in the kitchen or something. They just thought I had a lot of interest in the shows and not that I wanted to be a model,” she tells the Sunday Nation.

At 14, she once mentioned that she wanted to try out modelling and the idea was shot down immediately. When her mother sought advice from Caren’s aunts, they said there was nothing good about modelling: “Huyu ataendea kutembea uchi mbele ya watu (she’s going to be walking naked in front of strangers),” they said.

She, however, recalls that her mother was supportive. “She kept calling me ‘model wangu’ or telling me ‘model hautaniletea’ any time I made her angry,” remembers Caren.

Caren Jepkemei Kogo, a Kenyan high-fashion model in Europe, during a shoot for the Halpern clothing brand. 

Pool

The last born in a family of four and the only daughter, Caren is 180 centimetres tall. The height is mostly inherited from their father.

 While she helped organise pageants in high school, she never participated in any of them. Her friends tried to persuade her to try out modelling but she would brush it off.

“Deep down, I wanted to tell them how much I was being restricted. I just resolved to try it once I get away from home,” she remembers.

When she joined Karatina University in 2017 to pursue a degree in project planning and management, she attended a lot of fashion events but wasn’t impressed by what she saw. The events were a far cry from what she had seen on television.

She contacted agencies in the hope of being signed, but none took her. She then directly messaged (DM) the agencies of international models she followed on social media. On the last day of her third year in campus, in April 2019, Star Models from Nigeria responded to her message and asked her to send them her photos.

Caren Jepkemei Kogo, a Kenyan high-fashion model in Europe, during a shoot for the Halpern clothing brand. 

Pool

Sent selfies

Not familiar with the business, she sent selfies and studio-shot photos. She was told to send simple photos and without any makeup on. Aisha Bello, Star Models’ founder, told Caren to attend an audition she would be conducting in Nairobi the following week.

“At the auditions, we were more than 100 models. I freaked out. I had no experience compared to the others. Luckily, I was among the 10 models picked,” she remembers.

When she had to get a passport she told her parents it was just in case “an opportunity opens up”. In May 2019, she had to apply for a visa to go to Paris. That’s when she opened to her parents.

“Surprisingly, they were both proud of me for pursuing my dream and taking the initiative,” says Caren.

That August, she was on her maiden plane ride to Paris. After a bad experience accessing her hotel room, she called her father and told him she was ready to return. But she did not.

“You work really hard and by the end of the week you’re just dead. I once slept in a bus as I was heading to a client, coming around only once I was an hour and a half past my destination,” says Caren.

In her first season, she didn’t get many gigs. After two months, she enquired from the agency why she wasn’t getting her pay. They sent her an expenses list. She realised she had been paying €50 (Sh6, 590) a day for her apartment and the €80 (Sh10, 544) “pocket money” she was collecting weekly was being charged to her.

Heading back to Europe in January 2020 after visiting her family for Christmas, she got selected for the first show of Men’s Fashion Week and the dominoes kept falling in her favour from then on. She made it to the inside pages of British Vogue in six different editions.

Her aunts have also come round and expressed their pride after seeing her on the Vogue Italia cover.     BY DAILY NATION