–

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY CLAUDINE RENAUD
South African lawyer and part-time fashion model Thando Hopa (R), an albino, tries on an evening dress by South African fashion designer Gert-Johan Coetzee (L) during a mock-up fitting session at his workshop on June 13, 2015 in Johannesburg. Thando Hopa grew up in the shade, her porcelain skin hidden under long sleeves and sunscreen until the day this South African said goodbye to her complexes and decided to fight prejudice against albinos by becoming a model. Petite and born with a genetic anomaly that left her skin de-pigmented from head to toe, Hopa entered the fashion world without the usual vital statistics required of a catwalk model. But ghostly, no make-up barring a vivid fuchsia on her lips, her hair sculpted to a magnificent bleached height, she exploded onto the cover of the first Forbes Life Africa back in 2013. AFP PHOTO / GIANLUIGI GUERCIA