ANOK YAI: MODEL OF THE YEAR, AND THE UNDISPUTED BEST-DRESSED STAR OF THE 2025 FASHION AWARDS

At the 2025 Fashion Awards in London, the runway may have belonged to the industry, but the night belonged to Anok Yai. Crowned Model of the Year and effortlessly securing the unofficial title of Best Dressed, Yai arrived at the Royal Albert Hall as the ultimate embodiment of modern couture visionary, fearless, and indisputably iconic.

For many, Anok Yai’s rise from viral sensation to global fashion force has become one of fashion’s most defining stories. It began in 2017, when a single photo of her then a biochemistry student at Howard University ignited the internet. “I always said something would happen before I turned 20,” she reflects from her suite at The Peninsula, just hours before the ceremony. Manifestation met destiny, and destiny met runway dominance.

Months after that life altering moment, she opened for Prada in 2018. Since then, Yai has evolved into one of this generation’s most powerful fashion symbols a woman whose presence shifts energy in the room, who commands runways, red carpets, campaigns, and conversations with unmatched grace and intensity.

Her long-time collaborator and stylist Carlos Nazario describes her best:
“Anok isn’t a mannequin. She’s a visionary. She collaborates. She creates. She transforms clothes into stories.”

And those stories begin with her references: Afrofuturism, early-2000s hip-hop, R&B glamour, vintage corsetry, Victoriana, sci-fi futurism a curated universe that defines her unmistakable aesthetic. Yai even maintains a personal style manifesto for 2025:
“Effortlessly high effort. Feminine but dangerous. Vampiric. Sheer. Vintage. A girl who’s put-together but still takes tequila shots and fights men in the club.”

That duality came to life on the carpet through a breathtaking custom gown by Dilara Findikoğlu a white cream corseted masterpiece woven with lace, velvet, and satin. Deconstructed romance. Dark femininity. Couture with a pulse.
A look designed not just to impress, but to be immortalized.

“Dilara celebrates the female form in a way that feels raw, powerful, and timeless,” Nazario shares. “This moment needed to feel iconic and Anok delivered.”

But beyond the fabric, tonight’s triumph reflects a deeper evolution in fashion. Yai’s win signals a shift in who the industry uplifts and celebrates. It honors the presence of dark skinned women on global stages not as exceptions, but as the standard.

Her friends and industry sisters echo that sentiment.
Alex Consani shares: “Anok always protects the underdog. She lifts people up in a world built on competition.”
Paloma Elsesser adds: “Her beauty is singular but her mind, wit, and spirit are what make her extraordinary.”

As Yai prepares to accept her award beneath the proud eyes of her parents, she acknowledges the quiet weight of the moment: a milestone not only for her, but for every girl who will see themselves reflected in her image and dream bigger.

“This is a made-it moment,” she admits. “Not just for me but for my family, for my community, for everyone who didn’t think this space was built for them.”

In an industry constantly searching for the future, tonight the future is clear:
It looks like Anok Yai.