Anok Yai Addresses Rumored Feud with Alex Consani

Anok Yai is clearing the air once and for all about a rumored feud with Alex Consani.

In a joint interview Allure published on Tuesday, Sept. 23, Yai, 27, spoke candidly about their friendship after losing Model of the Year to Consani, 22, at the 2024 Fashion Awards in London. The recognition made Consani the first transgender model to win the prize.

“The whole thing has actually brought us closer,” Yai said while addressing rumors of tension between the two.

She added, “The more I work in fashion, the more I value humanity and individual people. It’s an interesting juxtaposition to what people online talk about. They’re always fantasizing about the lives of these low-key boring bitches that never experienced anything. I’m like, ‘Babe, why aren’t we talking about the girls who worked hard for it, have an actual story, have a history, have a message?'”

Yai clarified that she and Consani “have a really close relationship” and were surprised to see social media comments about a supposed feud.

“That night, we were actually partying,” she recalled of the 2024 Fashion Awards. “We were celebrating [Alex] with her trophy, and then when we stepped out, we got all the [social] notifications. It was like, ‘Oh shit.'”

She also said she was “proud” of Consani when she won the award.

“And the stuff that Alex has done, no one’s done it in the game before,” Yai added. “She’s the first trans model to really be acknowledged, and she deserves all of it. What I didn’t like was people attacking Alex for being trans.”

Consani said that she was “upset” by the “racism” toward Yai in the aftermath of the awards ceremony.

“There aren’t a lot of dark-skinned models that have reached the status you’re at, and the mistreatment that I see in fashion, especially towards dark-skinned girls, it’s really upsetting,” she told Yai during the Allure interview.

“There’s value in giving girls their flowers, especially girls that are almost always mistreated,” Consani added. “The focus of that whole situation should have been what we need to do to support one another, not creating some beef that was never there.”

Following the 2024 Fashion Awards, Yai took to X to congratulate Consani, but to also send a message to the British Fashion Council, the governing body behind the awards.

“Alex, I love you and I’m so proud of you. British Fashion Council, thank you but I don’t want it anymore,” Yai wrote.

She followed it up with a second post, writing, “If you have seen the effort that I’ve seen Alex put in; you would understand how proud I am of her. But Alex can be proud and I can be exhausted at the same time. It doesn’t take away how much love we have for each other.”

Consani and Yai were both nominated for the award, as were Alva Claire, Amelia Gray, Liu Wen and Mona Tougaard. Yai was also nominated in 2023, but Paloma Elsesser won.

According to the British Fashion Council, the model of the year award “recognises the global impact of a model who over the last 12 months has dominated the industry.”

In her cover interview for Elle’s August 2024 Future of Fashion issue, Yai opened up about the racism she faced growing up in Manchester, N.H.

“I was the kid in the corner who didn’t talk to anybody,” she said in her candid, wide-ranging interview. “I never really had a set friend group. I was more of a floater. I was always on the outside looking in.”

Plus, she explained, “growing up dark-skinned in New Hampshire, there was a lot of racism. A lot of kids made fun of me for my skin color.”

Her ambition allowed her “to feel comfortable with my separation from my peers,” she explained. “I always knew I was meant for bigger things than the small town that I came from.”