New York Fashion Week is where brand-new fads and fashions are born for all to see; big name designer labels, worn by big name models, purchased by the biggest names. This season, there were three women of color who simply could not stay out of fashion headlines everywhere: Duckie Thot, Slick Woods and Teyana Taylor.
This NYFW triple threat took on countless brands that range from haute couture to high-end streetwear. Consistent with their coutured appearances, each of these women walked multiple shows throughout the week, and each one of them have been described as “multi-hyphenates.”
Starting off with Simone “Slick Woods” Thompson, the young woman is a star from every angle. She began her runway career in the fall of 2016 walking in a total of 17 shows, including Yeezy and Gypsy Sport. Vogue Magazine claims that her “doe-shaped eyes” and “contagious gap-toothed smile” are what pull you into the freshness that is Woods. More recently, Woods has gotten even bigger; featured in Fenty Beauty ad campaign leading up to the Fenty x Puma AW18 runway show where she closed the show atop a blacked-out motorcross bike, with designer Rihanna herself in hot pursuit behind her.
Woods is also runway besties with Duckie Thot, another up-and-coming, multi-faceted model who has taken the fashion world by storm. Striking her big break when starring in the Yeezy Season 4 runway show, this Sudanese-Australian model has since been labeled America’s “black Barbie.” This year, the vibrant soul has been featured in an all-black cast of the 2017 Pirelli calendar and has also walked Fenty x Puma, Helmut Lang, Jeremy Scott, and closed Christian Cowan Spring/Summer collections. Thot is also the coverstar of the Fall 2017 issue of Paper Magazine and has reportedly worked with Tim Walker, Pat McGrath, and Edward Enninful.
Finally, the effervescent Teyana Taylor is a powerhouse who closed multiple runway shows during her very first year walking in NYFW. She shocked the world with her idiosyncratic choreography in Kanye West’s music video for “Fade,” and her audience has multiplied significantly since. Taylor took this fierceness to NYFW and completely dominated every runway on which she set her stilettoed foot. It all began at the GCDS show when Taylor closed in an all white number with the most glorious diva stomp. But this was just the beginning. The very next day she was the final act in Phillip Plein’s transcendental Spring 2018 show where she pulled out a ferocious vogueing routine as Future performed his iconic “Mask Off.” After recharging her “extra” battery at multiple star-studded affairs, including Pat McGrath’s “Mothership” Vogueing Ball, she finished her NYFW run at The Blonds show. With a neon body suit and a complimentary multicolor leather jacket draped over her shoulder, Taylor spent most of the show speculating the looks that walked past her.
The three musketeers of this season’s NYFW didn’t come out of nowhere, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Each one of them is at the peak of their creative career, and they’ve got so much left to give to the world.
