Perhaps the most exciting moment of New York Fashion Week is when you come across a fresh new face—the kind that makes you stop and ask, “Who is that?” Which is exactly what happened at the Vogue.com offices when we saw a photo of a girl walking down the street dressed in piles of shearling and fur—her hip-grazing jet black hair sweeping across her shoulders.
Turns out it’s 24-year-old Japanese model Yuka Mannami, who took a break from her first-ever New York Fashion Week to share the story of her personal hair history. Trained as a classical ballerina, Mannami says she grew up pulling it back into a neat bun. At age 18, a brief experiment led to an impromptu pixie—“I quit ballet and decided on an image change for the last year of high school”—and she’s been growing it back ever since. Now, her dark hair has reached such great lengths that it’s getting her noticed at castings. “Everyone seems to love it right now,” she admits.
Unlike those who skip the conditioning rinse and swear by dry shampoo, Mannami is a believer in serious hair maintenance. She washes and blow-dries (hands-free!) daily, trims her eyebrow-skimming bangs once a month, and says that her long hair complements her wardrobe of vintage pieces. Ultimately, though, she’s not precious about it. “I wouldn’t mind if someone wanted to dye my hair,” she says.
On the other hand, she’s a bit of an extremist when it comes to length, and isn’t interested in, say, a middle-of-the-road long bob. She insists on her preference for a dramatic silhouette (which certainly makes her hard to miss
“If someone does want to cut it, I want to keep it very short!” We’ll be keeping an eye out for her during the rest of New York Fashion Week—and we won’t be surprised if we catch sight of her, and her swinging black hair, over in Europe next week, too.