FACES is published twice a year in English. The cover of our first international issue 2025 features supermodel Anok Yai. Some may have seen her recently on TV on a certain top model show. But anyone who is at home on social media knows that her stellar career began back in 2017, thanks to one such social media platform.
Imagine you’re standing around at a university event, a photographer asks if he can take your picture – and a day later the modeling agencies are ringing until your smartphone runs hot. We can’t imagine, because we are mere mortals. But Anok Yai’s rise to supermodel status began exactly like this in 2017. At Howard University’s Homecoming Week, photographer Steve Hall saw the then 20-year-old’s potential. He posted his snapshot on Instagram, where it quickly amassed 20,000 likes – and attracted the attention of several modeling agencies. Anok kept Next Model Management on tenterhooks for a few weeks – and called them several times a day – until she finally signed a contract with them.
After a few months in the modeling business, she was able to tick off a few milestones: First Sudanese model and the second black model to open a Prada runway after Naomi Campbell? Check. Prada campaign? Check. Nike campaign? Check.
Eight years later, the checklist that we simply attributed to Anok (who knows, maybe she really has one?) would probably fill an entire book. She has marched down the catwalks of Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Fendi, among others, and was one of the angels at last year’s Victoria’s Secret revival. She has also been invited to the legendary Met Gala for a few years now. In the meantime, Anok has also conquered several covers – Vogue, i-D Dazed, Harper’s Bazaar – and now also FACES. Our English-language edition, which is published internationally twice a year.
More than a model
Anok was named Model of the Year in 2023. She is currently hypnotizing us in the new Mugler campaign. In addition to her talent in front of the camera, Anok has a lot more to offer: A colorful family history and a secret talent for oil painting, for example.
Anok was born in Cairo after her family had to flee Sudan. When she was three years old, her family moved to the US state of New Hampshire. At university, Anok initially studied biochemistry and wanted to become a doctor. Growing up as a black girl in a very white state was not always easy, she tells Elle magazine. Instead of letting the racism she experienced get her down, she looked to the future: “I always knew that my life had more to offer than the small town I grew up in. That’s why I didn’t care that I didn’t quite fit in.” So although she liked to keep a low profile, she expressed her love of fashion and her personality with her eye-catching outfits.
And what was that about painting again? To relax from the hustle and bustle of the modeling business, Anok loves to paint with oil paints. As a child and before she asked for canvases in hotels, she loved to embellish bed sheets with her art. Now that she is on the road professionally with canvases, the only thing missing is a gallery. Hardly anyone gets to see her paintings yet, but she is not averse to the idea of an exhibition, as she reveals to Harper’s Bazaar. If that doesn’t work out, you could just hang her photos in a museum – they can certainly keep up with paintings.
Interested in the faces behind our covers? Here you can read all about Mary Ukech, our March cover star.
Out of this world: Anok Yai at last year’s Met Gala.
Photos: © Launchmetrics SpotlightSM
