Noma Han

Noma Han is a South Korean model and tattoo artist from Incheon whose career developed through a determination to shape his own image. His closely cropped hair and extensive tattoos became signatures in fashion, while tattooing gave him a second profession in which he could create images himself.

His move to New York began with shifts at a fried chicken shop in Korea. As he recalled in a 2023 interview with Vestal, he saved about $5,000 to finance the trip after struggling to establish himself as a model at home. An American agency signed him after three months, just before fashion week, and he booked around eight shows that season.

His approach to his appearance was equally self-directed. He cut and bleached his hair at home before telling his agency, a decision that initially alarmed his agents and subsequently found favor with clients. International advertising followed, including Calvin Klein Jeans’ fall-winter 2015 campaign, photographed by Mario Sorrenti.

Editorial work and runway bookings established him as part of a generation of Korean men gaining greater visibility in international fashion. His tattoos made individuality an immediately legible part of that image.

Speaking to W in 2016, Noma described learning the craft at Black Fish Tattoo in Manhattan’s Koreatown. The first person he practiced on was himself, spending six painful hours working on his own thigh. He also found a connection between his professions in the physical confidence each required, learning to relax his body both in front of the camera and while handling a tattoo machine. What began as an interest in getting inked developed into the responsibility of making permanent marks for other people.