Supermodel and Mugler muse Anok Yai is rewriting the rules of beauty, fragrance, and self-expression. From perfuming her airplane seat to painting portraits in music studios, Yai brings drama and artistry into every corner of her life. In this exclusive conversation, she opens up about her love for scent, her upcoming art exhibition, and why romanticizing the everyday is her ultimate beauty philosophy.
The scent of self-expression
When Thierry Mugler launched Angel in the 1990s, it changed the fragrance world forever. Its sugary, complex notes introduced a bold new era of scent—one rooted in personality, power, and presence. Alien, its mysterious, amber-toned sibling, arrived in 2005 and has since become iconic in its own right. Now, Alien Extraintense, a deeper, darker reimagining of the original, has found its perfect match in Anok Yai.
“I like to wear it on dates,” says Yai. “It’s really dark and sensual. Like a touch of danger.” With creamy vanilla, tuberose, cardamom, and rich amber notes, the scent reflects her dual nature—equal parts elegance and edge. “I steal it off set all the time,” she laughs. “There’s always at least five bottles missing after I’m done shooting.”
For Yai, fragrance isn’t just an accessory—it’s a form of identity. “Perfume is my everything,” she says. She wears it to bed, carries a bottle in every purse, and even sprays it on airplane seats to create a sense of home while traveling. “I spend so much time in hotels,” she says. “Nothing really grounds me. So I’ll bring a specific perfume just for my bed and my seat on the plane. That way, I feel like I’m sleeping at home.”
A muse in motion
As a globe-trotting model and artist, Yai’s beauty rituals are deeply personal and surprisingly grounded. “I started wearing compression socks on planes because my legs would hurt,” she admits. “I do hydrating face masks—111Skin’s rose gold one is my favorite. And I eat Manuka honey before, during, and after flights. That way I don’t get sick.”
She’s equally pragmatic about her travel beauty finds. In Japan, she filled an entire carry-on suitcase at Don Quixote, the cult megastore. “I went to the makeup aisle—it was all eyelashes—and I just swiped it all into the suitcase,” she says. Her date night essentials? A backless dress, a feline lash, and the signature sensuality of Alien Extraintense.
Her connection to Mugler’s campaign goes beyond aesthetics. “I’m obsessed with this campaign,” she says. “It feels really sexual and dark—more than I usually do in fashion. It’s exciting to step into that energy. Most of my work is avant-garde or quirky, but this feels raw.”
Painting through music and memory
Beyond modeling, Yai is steadily crafting a parallel identity—as a painter. Her creative process is intuitive and dreamlike, often sparked by music, memory, or vivid dreams. “I wake up in the middle of the night and write down my dreams so I don’t forget,” she says. “When my friends—who are mostly musicians—are in the studio, I’ll sit in the corner with my sketchbook and paint what I feel from their music.”
One such subject was Grammy-nominated artist Daniel Caesar. “He was working on his album in London, and I just had a flash of an image of him,” she recalls. “When he took a break, I posed him, set up lights, took photos from every angle—maybe 50 of them. Then I painted from those images.”
It wasn’t an easy process. “At first he said, ‘This doesn’t look like me,’” she laughs. “But I went back, worked on it, and asked his team and friends—they said it looked exactly like him. It’s strange, because we all have distorted views of ourselves. It’s like seeing yourself in a flipped mirror—you’re not used to it.”
Her goal? To launch an art exhibition once she completes six paintings. “I’m on my fourth now,” she says. “I started the Daniel Caesar one around Christmas and only finished half by spring. I’m the slowest painter ever.”
Romanticizing the ordinary
At the heart of Yai’s philosophy is the idea that beauty isn’t reserved for the spotlight. It’s something to be cultivated in private, in silence, and in solitude. “You should romanticize every aspect of your life,” she says. “Even if no one sees it—especially if no one sees it.”
She follows a strict morning and evening routine, ends each night with a candle and journal, and sometimes goes to sleep in lingerie “just for me.” Her world is curated, intentional, and filled with personal rituals that make the ordinary feel extraordinary.
Her relationship to beauty has only grown more dramatic since entering the fashion world. “I mean, I have perfume for my airplane seat,” she says, with a laugh. “I don’t know how much more dramatic I can get.” Still, it’s not drama for performance—it’s for pleasure. “Anything I can do to make something more aesthetic, I’ll do,” she says. “It makes life worth living.”
