Star of Ralph Lauren

A beautiful Somalian refugee, Ubah Hassan, is the star of Ralph Lauren’s new spring campaign and the heroine who inspired the collection he will show in New York tomorrow.

“When I design a collection, I have a heroine in mind. She is the star of my movie and expresses what I have to say. I study her character and I create for her and through her,” Lauren said

Ubah, whose name translates as “flower”, grew up in the city of Baidoa. In 1991, after the onset of political unrest, her family split up, her mother fleeing with Ubah’s sisters, while she, her father and younger brother sought refuge in neighbouring Kenya.The family were finally reunited in Vancouver Canada, in 2001, after a decade of separation.

Ubah was talent-spotted when she was 17, and signed to Click Model Management in New York. Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue, cast her for the magazine’s first-ever “black issue” in 2008, where Ubah appeared as a rising star, alongside established top models, Naomi Campbell, Gail O’Neill and Beverly Johnson. The next stage in her career was when Ralph Lauren chose her for his spring/summer ’09 catwalk presentation, at New York Fashion Week, last September, and gave her the honour of closing the show, wearing a gleaming gold lame halter-neck gown and turban.

Lauren has now produced a video which tells the ‘Cinderella’ story of Ubah’s rise from refugee to runway. And all eyes will be upon her tomorrow morning when she makes her second catwalk appearance for the American designer.