10 Facts About Lupita Nyong’O From Her Vogue Cover Story

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The US Vogue had everyone talking about their July 2014 issue! And rightfully so since it has Lupita Nyong’o on the cover! The absolute sensation of this year’s Academy Awards, Lupita made her breakthrough in the very emotional movie ’12 Years a Slave’ for which she has received numerous nominations and awards.

But more importantly, for the fashion population, is the sensational fashion marathon Lupita keeps on winning Red Carpet after Red Carpet! Smart, graceful, poised and a perfect blend of dream and reality, Lupita is a model. A role model, a fashion model, an acting model. A game changing woman and professional. Here are 10 things she confessed to Hamish Bowles in her Vogue interview as sustained by fabulous Marrakech-shot imagery signed by photographer Mikael Jansson.

See also: Mikael Jasson photographed Helen Mirren also for Vogue US!

1. Lupita Nyong’o felt unbeautiful

As stunning and as surreal as it may sound, Lupita had an ‘ugly duckling’ moment that lasted her throughout her life until… Alek Wek came along! The Sudanese model (currently living in NYC) changed the way Lupita felt about herself, helping her discover her inner blooming flower, back in the nineties when Alek was strutting the catwalks of the world with her incredibly gracious demarche.

2. Lupita Nyong’o is a Lancome ambassador

Next to her acting duties, Lupita was named ambassador for one of the most prestigious cosmetics brands in the world. Lancome proudly enlisted a handful of unique, talented, famous women to promote their beauty products: Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, although curiously minimalistic, all swear by Lancome’s cosmetics.

See also: Lupita is also known for her quirky hairstyle!

3. Lupita Nyong’o designed many of her teen clothes, including her prom dress

Because it was, as she said, ‘cheaper [to design your own clothes] than buying retail’ ones, Lupita went to her prom dressed in something she designed herself: ‘a velvet miniskirt with a matching little top and an iridescent silver translucent fabric that flowed to the ground’.

4. Lupita Nyong’o’s stylist is Micaela Erlanger

She was introduced to Micaela by Michelle Dockery (with whom Lupita worked in Non Stop) and they prepared those fabulous Red Carpet promotional looks together, as well as the ones Lupita wore during the awards season. 28-year old Micaela is also styling Olivia Munn and Winona Ryder and she credits Annabel Tollman (stylist to MK & Ashley Olsen and Scarlet Johansson) for teaching her everything she knows.

Lupita is close to her stylist, Micaela Erlanger (right on the cover of THR, right on a plane heading to Paris)

See also: The beautiful custom Prada dress worn by Lupita at this year’s Oscars!

5. Lupita Nyong’o is on Pinterest

Although she didn’t disclose her account’s anchor, she did admit to prepping for the first meeting with her stylist by gathering a considerable load of colorful, inspiring pictures from Pinterest!

6. Lupita Nyong’o thinks the Red Carpet is a war zone

Although she looks perfectly calm and serene every time she walks before the paparazzi crowds, Lupita thinks that sustaining their flashes is just like being before the firing squad.

7. Lupita Nyong’o has a boyfriend

Because it’s the kind of thing you confess to a fashion magazine, Lupita said that she and Somali-born rapper K’naan are a couple (right now). K’naan and her are very involved in their respective homelands issues. Although she likes to keep her private life ‘indoors in my world’, Lupita admitted she likes to cook ‘whole fish [and] mean salads’.

8. Lupita Nyong’o’s name is derived from a Kenyan word meaning ‘to follow’

Lupita’s family had to flee their native Kenya because of political troubles. Lupita was born in Mexico and her name is a play on their adoptive country’s specificities and the Luo culture – ‘luo’ means ‘to follow’ in the Kenyan’s tribe dialect.

9. Lupita Nyong’o first acting guide was Ralph Fiennes

Lupita had worked on the set of The Constant Gardener where she confided in its star, Ralph Fiennes. She told him about her passion for acting and Mr. Fiennes told her to pursuit this path only if it was something she ‘couldn’t live without’. The abrupt wisdom made Lupita distance herself from acting.

10. Lupita Nyong’o cried for an hour after watching 12 Years a Slave

Yes, Lupita is not only an incredibly gifted actress, but she’s also human. After seeing the movie she had starred in, she was ‘inconsolable. I wept for an hour’