{"id":847732,"date":"2025-12-01T21:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=847732"},"modified":"2025-12-01T21:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:18:06","slug":"anok-yai-didnt-just-win-model-of-the-year-she-was-best-dressed-at-the-2025-fashion-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=847732","title":{"rendered":"Anok Yai Didn\u2019t Just Win Model of the Year\u2014She Was Best Dressed at the 2025 Fashion Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Celebrity Style<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Anok Yai Didn\u2019t Just Win Model of the Year\u2014She Was Best Dressed at the 2025 Fashion Awards<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
By <\/span>Mahoro Seward<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

It goes without saying that each of the winners at the 2025 Fashion Awards is truly deserving, but there was one recipient\u2013announced early on in the run-up to the biggest night in British fashion\u2013who feels especially so: Anok Yai, the South Sudanese-American Model of the Year.<\/p>\n

The story of Yai\u2019s discovery is one of the most widely told in recent fashion lore\u2013which is fitting, since it harks back to when a picture of the then-biochemistry student at the Howard University Homecoming in 2017 went viral on Twitter. \u201cI think I must have manifested this for myself since, like, elementary school,\u201d she reminisces over the phone from a suite at The Peninsula, hours before stepping onto the carpet at the Royal Albert Hall. \u201cI always told my mom that something was going to happen to me by the time I was 20.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

She was right. Months after that single image set the internet alight, she was opening for Prada in 2018. Since then, she has risen to become one of her generation\u2019s most emblematic faces\u2013both in fashion and in culture at large. That\u2019s, of course, in part due to her radiant, almost otherworldly looks, but also for the effortless fearlessness, grace and composure that she emanates\u2014whether on runways, red carpets, magazine pages or over the phone when we speak.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s before we even get to her wardrobe. \u201cAnok really has her own sense of style, and a very unique and personal way that she likes to put herself together,\u201d says Carlos Nazario, the New York-based stylist and creative director, who\u2019s known and worked with Yai since her breakout. \u201cShe has a set of references that really differ from mine; it\u2019s always a pleasure to work with someone who has a vision and is a true collaborator. She\u2019s never just a clothes hanger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

A snapshot of her personal moodboard? \u201cShe loves Afrofuturism, sci-fi, a very specific era of hip-hop and R&B in the early \u201900s, glamour, the \u201930s, corsetry, Victoriana,\u201d continues Nazario. \u201cAnok will put on a corset over a tank top with a pair of cut-off denim jeans and Vivienne Westwood sex heels, or a weird, cropped leather jacket with super futuristic shoulders over tracksuit pants. It\u2019s always a bit of this and a bit of that. She never likes it to be so overtly referenced that you know exactly what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually have notes for what I wanted my style to be for 2025,\u201d Yai says, opening up the Notes app on her phone. \u201cEffortlessly high effort; extremely feminine, but sexy; vampire; sheer fabrics; vintage. A girl who\u2019s undeniably cool, dark and mysterious. She has her life together, but she\u2019ll still take tequila shots and fight men in the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The look that Yai wore on tonight\u2019s carpet was essentially the above in a nutshell: an exquisite white and cream corseted custom Dilara Findiko\u011flu gown decorated with swathes of lace, crushed velvet and satin, with a dramatic train.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth Anok and I love to champion emerging talent\u2013and it\u2019s really important to both of us, not only to champion people who feel fresh, but also for her to do things that she hasn\u2019t done before, and to wear things that perhaps aren\u2019t expected,\u201d Nazario says. \u201cWe\u2019re both big fans of Dilara, how she celebrates the female form, and her particular brand of deconstructed glamour. Since it\u2019s such a big night for Anok, we wanted to do something that felt iconic\u2013that wasn\u2019t too cool and that we knew would stand the test of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you see a Dilara piece, you know that it\u2019s her work right away,\u201d Yai concurs. \u201cI love the romance of her pieces\u2014there\u2019s this raw, edgy darkness to it that I\u2019ve been obsessed with. And when Carlos and I decided that we wanted to work with a London designer, hers was the first name that we shouted out!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Last year\u2019s Model of the Year Alex Consani has something to say about her friend ahead of the big night: \u201cAnok always keeps an eye out for the underdog. When we first met, she would always hype me up and still to this day, whenever someone in our space is feeling down, I see her do exactly the same,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a quality that\u2019s truly rare in an industry made for competition. She has stood solid in her ability to make others feel worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paloma Elsesser, another of Yai\u2019s industry sisters, adds: \u201cAnok has a beauty that feels singular, almost overwhelming, but what makes her most deserving and what makes me love her most is her mind, her wit, and her deeply creative spirit. For those lucky enough to know her up close, she is hungry to learn, endlessly curious, tender and brave.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

The feeling is mutual. \u201cI was so excited when I found out that they were going to be the ones presenting me with the award,\u201d Yai beams. \u201cWe have a very close relationship; we\u2019ve gone through so many ups and downs in our careers and personal lives, and we\u2019ve always been there for each other. It\u2019s such a tight sisterhood that goes past modelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The spirit of family carries further than that. When she steps onto the stage to accept her award, she\u2019ll do so beneath the gaze of her parents. \u201cI don\u2019t think my parents ever dreamed that this would happen, especially being immigrants, whose main focus has always been on getting me the best education, rather than the luxuries. Being on that stage in front of them will be a real \u2018made-it\u2019 moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may sound odd from a model who has walked pretty much every major runway and fronted every major campaign you could think of, but Yai is the first to profess her own imposter syndrome. \u201cI\u2019ve always struggled with that,\u201d she concedes. \u201cAnd I\u2019m very, very ambitious. Whenever I meet a goal or hit a checkpoint, I celebrate for maybe five minutes, and then my next thought is, like, \u2018Okay, what do I want to achieve next?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

More than an achievement for herself, Yai\u2019s victory is a testament to seismic shifts in fashion\u2013both in terms of the versatility expected of today\u2019s model, but also concerning who fashion\u2019s institution deems worthy of recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, there just haven\u2019t been many insanely beautiful, very dark-skinned girls on the carpet,\u201d Nazario observes. \u201cWith Anok, we have a real opportunity to create images that will stand the test of time, and that black and brown girls can always look back on. As much as this is about the moment and the look, it\u2019s about creating an image and the lasting power of that image.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe undoubtedly deserves this award,\u201d Elsesser adds, \u201cbut truly, she deserves the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Image<\/span><\/div>\n
Sofi Adams<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: http:\/\/vogue.com\/article\/anok-yai-model-of-the-year-2025-fashion-awards<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrity Style Anok Yai Didn\u2019t Just Win Model of the Year\u2014She Was Best Dressed at the 2025 Fashion Awards By Mahoro Seward December 1, 2025 Sofi Adams It goes without saying that each of the winners at the 2025 Fashion Awards is truly deserving, but there was one recipient\u2013announced early on in the run-up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":847733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-847732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-vogue-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=847732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/847733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=847732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=847732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=847732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}