We all buy clothes, but no two people shop the same. It can be a social experience, and a deeply personal one; at times, it can be impulsive and entertaining, at others, purpose-driven, a chore. Where do you shop? When do you shop? How do you decide what you need, how much to spend and what’s “you”? These are some of the questions we’re putting to prominent figures in our column “How I Shop.”
Here’s a fun fact about Anok Yai: She’s a painter. Yes, as in she sits in front of a canvas and creates paintings. There is a catch, though: “Girl, I’m one of the slowest painters that I know,” she says laughing over a video call. “I always need someone to be like, ‘Go paint, paint, paint.'”
But to give her some grace, she is one of the busiest models in the business right now. The supermodel has walked the runway for nearly every top designer, including Gucci, Chanel, Lanvin, Coperni, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Versace, Fendi and counting. She’s posed in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Acne Studios, Jacquemus, Ferragamo and Alaïa and fronted covers for Vogue, i-D, W and V.
Over the past couple of years, Yai’s also been busy as a Mugler Fragrances ambassador. Most recently, she starred in the Alien Pulp campaign — a project featuring the brand’s newest juicy fragrance — for which she portrayed a siren.’ Being able to play in the water and then be feminine and sensual and be presented as how I would genuinely want to was really fulfilling,” she reflects.
While her budding art career might be on hold, Yai has found other ways to show off her creative side, from collaborating on campaign direction to styling herself. “As a model, your job is to take these characters that are given to you by designers, and then you imbue them upon yourself,” she says. “You’re basically a different person every single job. So my job has allowed me the leeway to try every character until I found the one that I liked.”
Ahead, Yai shares her current favorite aesthetic, the runway moment that changed her career trajectory, her most coveted fashion purchase and more.
“I love the vampire vibe. My vibe has always been edgy and a bit dark, but right now it’s vampire on a night out. She’s elegant, she puts in effort, but she doesn’t try too hard.
“I love very feminine clothing, but I also like the clothing to have a bit of edge to it, whether it’s dark leathers or soft silks. I really love playing with textures. In terms of colors, I like neutrals. I hate neon.
“I like my red carpets to be a collaboration between the designer and my stylist. And I try different things. During the Time100 Gala, I was styled by Terrence Munn and he put me in this Ashi Studio couture look (above). It was the green crocodile-style dress. It wasn’t real crocodile — don’t let PETA come get me. It was a very specific look. I love playing with different shapes and really bold, strong colors and I like to push the envelope as much as I can.
“My favorite red carpet look right now was my last Met Gala look. When I found out about the theme, my initial reaction was, ‘I have to be a statue.’ When I was explaining the look to my team and to the designer, they’re looking at me confused like, ‘[You want] prosthetics and bronze, gold tears?’ They’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I told them, ‘I promise if we do it right, it’s going to be insane.’ So we took the chance. Then I found the prosthetics and hair and makeup teams to do it. When I did my fitting and showed the designer the full makeup look with the dress, he was so excited, and it was one of my most exciting Mets I’ve done.
“I’m not going to lie, my favorite [runway look] was when I did Mugler [Spring 2024] (below). I had the mask on, the runway had the wind machines and I wore the corset that was brown and black on the bottom. When we were doing the fitting, the Mugler team was just like, ‘Yo, this is going to be a moment.’ But I didn’t realize how much of an impact that moment was going to have on fashion and then especially on my own career. I feel like that was the turning point for me, when I felt like I went from a model to a model, and that was really exciting for me.
“I hate shopping in person. I am not good at waiting. I don’t like looking for clothes and then trying to see if anything is there. I like it when I see something online, and then I try to get that. I get nervous if I’m just looking for stuff and I don’t end up finding anything. I’m like, ‘Oh, I just wasted all day looking for something.’ I won’t say I’m specifically an online shopper or an in-person shopper. I’m a shopper who, when I see something, I want it, and I’m going to find a way to get it.
“I’m not really shopping by brands right now. I made a whole Pinterest board, and I’m shopping by colors. I’m looking for the perfect blue, like a deep blue — not too dark, not too light. The board has a lot of lace, tights, long boots and really crazy shaped bags. And I love heels that have something — like all my clothes — weird about it.
“I went to Venice and there was this small, cute boutique that I saw had a bunch of corsets. I went inside, and they made me a custom corset, and it was all lace. I’m waiting for the right time to wear it. [The designer] put crystals all over it. So it looks like there’s rain dripping from the corset. That’s one of my favorite pieces.
“What’s a trend that I want to set for this summer? I’m playing with my hair. I’m trying to figure out the perfect shade of dark tips and Auburn hair.
“I remember before I even started modeling or before I even entered fashion in general, I used to always watch videos of the Mugler fashion shows… The whole world of Mugler interested me so much that I became obsessed with it. Then I started modeling; all of us models, we would talk all day, and I was like, ‘I’m trying to get a Mugler look. I’m going to get a Mugler look.’ So when I heard that I was going to be the ambassador, I can’t even put into words the joy that I felt.
“When I smelled the Alien Pulp, I got so excited because I was like, ‘This is going to be my official summer scent.’ It has a lot of fruity and floral notes, so it’s really fresh and you feel like a sparkling sensation when you wear it. But the notes are sensual enough that you can balance it between day and night.
“I want to get more into doing more creative direction and doing really cool editorials where I creatively direct them. And then I really, really, really want to have my artwork incorporated into fashion somehow.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
