Prêt-À-Poundo: Top 12 African Faces

These are the current Top African Models. Here are our 12 African Faces for 2012.

Prêt-À-Poundo: Top 12 African Faces

*Famous Somali model Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid

The fashion industry is keeping its finger on the pulse of contemporary society by never ceasing to reinvent itself through new shapes, forms, materials and faces. Models form an inherent part of the fashion landscape and are rich in diversity. The more time passes, the more top African models take space in catwalks and magazines. Beyond physical beauty, fascination and cultural exploration, the faces that go along with their features are not only unique but extremely strong.

*Model Alek Wek                                 *Model Ajak Deng                              *Model Nana Keita

Taking a step away from the stereotypical images of "African dark skin," one discovers a magnificent range of faces which bring a different, unique expressiveness and physical attractiveness. The standards of beauty set by our society are constantly changing towards a greater involvement of diversity — beauty is abstract and in the eye of the beholder, according to Oscar Wilde. There's clearly not a unitary African aesthetic but we can still profit from the wide range of faces. It wasn't easy to choose our top picks for models from the diaspora, but we narrowed it down to 12 top African models. They're listed in no particular order, we'll leave that for you to decide.

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