Anok Yai is a South Sudanese-American international supermodel born on Dec. 20, 1997. Since her career began in 2017, she has been renowned for her beauty, talent and achievements as a dark-skinned Black model.

Yai has modeled many captivating looks throughout her career. She particularly took the Met Gala by storm in 2024 with her Swarovski gem-covered jumpsuit designed by the brand.

As a sophomore at Plymouth State University in 2017, Yai visited Howard University for their homecoming celebrations. It was here a picture of her taken by photographer Steven Hall went viral on Instagram.

For her debut runway, Yai became the second Black model to open a Prada show at 19 years old in 2018. This occurred over 20 years after Naomi Campbell did so first in 1997, the year Yai was born.

Yai has now walked runways and shot campaigns for brands like Versace and Louis Vuitton, graced covers like Vogue and Elle and starred in music videos for big artists like Lil Yachty.

For Yai’s first Met Gala appearance in 2021, she adorned a literally star-studded full-length dress with a black feather shawl designed by Oscar de La Renta. The look was inspired by Josephine Baker.

Yai wore a custom fuschia gown by Michael Kors in 2022. According to the brand’s Instagram, the dress took nearly 2,600 hours to hand-embroider with its over 4.1 million individually stitched sequins.

Yai attended the 2024 Met Gala in a gem covered jumpsuit by Swarovski that took the internet by storm in a similar viral moment like the one that jump started her career.

Find outfit inspiration at the link below.