Between the contortionist choreography, pulsing beat, and elaborate set which was like an evening owl’s view of the Garden of Eden, any model might have been overshadowed by the mania throughout the Fenty Lingerie show at Recent York Fashion Week last week. Not Slick Woods. Whether it was a pregnancy glow, or one enhanced by Fenty Beauty body shimmer, 22-year-old Woods held the eye of the viewers as she made her way around the runway, donning black pointed nipple pasties and nude patterned stockings. It’s the boldness she exudes, like she’s in little doubt of what makes her special. She knows she is that bitch. She has that Big Slick Energy. And despite what a couple of Twitter trolls might imagine, Slick Woods’ beauty isn’t up for debate; whenever you Google Image the word ‘beauty’, she is considered one of the primary faces you will notice, and throughout her short profession, she has continually redefined what a model needs to be. How they need to look. 

During the last couple of years, Slick has had a meteoric rise to becoming some of the recognisable faces in the wonder and fashion industry. She’s fearless, and unapologetic in ways every woman dreams of, and to further add to her legend she became considered one of the one models you may name to have contractions mid-show and provides birth shortly afterwards. In an Instagram post, the 22-year-old model wrote about her unique entry into motherhood. “A lewk, 14 hours of labour, and a king is born. That is the face of a WOMAN in labour, we hold shit down most of us don’t even know the way much we’re going through,” she said. “I’m here to say I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT WHENEVER THE FUCK I WANT AND SO CAN YOU.”

Every thing from her shaved head, gapped front teeth, bleached brows, and confidence – her most alluring quality even though it isn’t a physical attribute – rips up the rulebook on what is predicted of a beauty muse. And, it matters because with every cover and campaign, individuals who have been told that you’ve gotten to mix in, long hair is the perfect, eurocentric features are the final word, and gaps needs to be closed, can see themselves.

Below, we speak to 4 fans to unpack what Slick means to them:

Ashton Sanders, 22, actor

“There’s and only will ever be just one Slick Woods. She represents something refreshing and latest – and does it well, her own way. She’s simply iconic.”

Paula Akpan, 24, co-founder of Black Girl Fest

“I believe that she’s just so beautiful in a way we’ve been told time and time again we must always fix. The primary time I used to be made aware of her I felt like she was very different. I suppose that whenever you see beauty outside of the eurocentric form you’ve gotten to regulate to it. It’s something we’re all attempting to unlearn. It’s like seeing my very own features in her, like her lips are so huge and I can only imagine that we got the identical forms of comments in class. I used to get called fish lips, kids would joke I’d had an allergic response. You find yourself feeling ashamed of those features. It’s the identical thing with my gap tooth – there was a time after I struggled to look within the mirror because I hated these features – but she shares them and after I see her I believe she’s so stunning. The more I take a look at her and the more she comes up on my feed I can’t even take it! The features I’ve struggled with are being embraced through her. Nobody is at the top of the journey of loving themselves but I’m well on my way and it’s refreshing to have a positive, unapologetic, unsubtle black model smash it and be on the duvet of the magazine. If I had seen that after I was younger it will have modified my opinion of my very own features.”

Ebere Anosike, 25, social and cultural researcher 

I believe she’s great at what she does and I like how daring she is with who she is. To me, she represents femininity in a way that’s opposite to what our moms and aunts told us growing up. She represents for the “alternative” black girl who won’t fit into the narrow box developed in society and our own communities. I do not know to what extent she carries the total weight of getting afrocentric features in society when analysing through a colorism perspective but overall it all the time comes all the way down to representation. Once we talk concerning the policing of bodies it’s women who bear the brunt of this judgement. The thin black girl with androgenous features isn’t celebrated within the black community unless there may be the proximity to the capitalism e.g. ‘model chick’ status. Seeing several types of black women with all levels of Africaness needs to be normalised. We aren’t a monolith and we are available a spread of sizes, shades, styles, personalities etc. and there needs to be an area for every of those, especially without judgement from our brothers and ourselves.”

Chalyn Melendez, 27, stylist 

“Her look and magnificence is tasteful raw edge but with versatility and he or she likes daring statements. The thing that makes her an awesome model is that she doesn’t attempt to be one. Even once we are fooling around, her photos come out great. She’s so effortless. Her being is her look. It’s so natural for her. Her beauty is so unique because as young as she is, she has this old soul. She isn’t afraid to take risks. But to me it’s not about having a singular look because within the industry there’s so many sorts of unique looks. To me it’s about owning your unique look. Slick owns her look, body, mind and soul. She knows exactly who she is. That energy is exhilarating. She has taught me that it’s okay to make your individual rules. She taught me quite a bit about value on this industry. Know your value and all the things will fall into place.”

Holly Anderson-Whittaker, 23, support employee at a primary school

“Black women have a sophisticated history with hair, westernised beauty ideals and being perceived as ‘beautiful’ within the mainstream. So after I first saw Slick Woods, I saved an image of her in my phone right away. Once I find beautiful pictures of PoC within the media I feel like they’re necessary to carry on to, rejoice, show people, archive.

Relaxing your hair/weaves/wigs/braids are in a way ‘expected’. As a WoC with a shaved head, it means quite a bit to see that celebrated within the mainstream. Shaving my hair, was considered one of the things that made me probably the most comfortable in my skin. Through that I ended caring about wearing what everyone else does, or considering what people might say and just satisfied myself. She is clearly someone who satisfies herself, and that’s so evident, and I believe that’s why she is gorgeous, you may see that she’s completely happy and assured. I like that she’s a young woman of color doing bits, walking in that Rihanna show was subverting all types of stereotypes about pregnancy, sexuality and motherhood. It was powerful.”

Artist: Rick Farin
3D scanning: Womp 3D Services
Concept and Creative Direction: Isamaya Ffrench and Ben Freeman
Carousel Web Development by Armin Unruh