Can you feel it? Early summer’s in the air and, by way of a reminder, there’s a fresh new Women’s Health hitting door mats and newsstands…today.
On the cover you’ll find Winnie Harlow: the 28-year-old Canadian supermodel who’s become a postergirl for unique beauty on and off the catwalk.
Alongside snaps from the glorious desert photoshoot inside the June issue, there’s our cover interview.
Here, Winnie speaks candidly about navigating push-backs in her early modelling days and what she does right now to feel and function at her best
Winnie also clarifies that her iconic moniker wasn’t the one bestowed on her at birth. It was, in fact, all of her own choosing.
‘Back then, everyone had a nickname. If your name was Chanel, you’d be, like, Chan-Chan Monroe, or whatever. Bubblez with a Z, all that type of stuff,’ she shares.
‘I loved Winnie the Pooh when I was growing up and I was also obsessed with Marilyn Monroe, and her inspiration was Jean Harlow.’
And the rest, as they say, is history.
On what it means to her to be fronting WH, Winnie says: ‘I want to show the world that beauty is whatever we each want it to be.’
It’s a conviction that was informed by her early years, where she faced rejection in the modelling industry.
As for how she coped, Winnie recalls: ‘My younger self always believed in the power of faith, strength and perseverance, while learning vulnerability and being authentically myself.’
‘I got a lot of ‘no’s along the way,’ she says, adding – ‘but I just pushed through.’
An early modelling experience partly inspired Winnie’s own line of sun protection, moisturisers and lip balm: Cay Skin.
Namely, a Bahamas photo shoot that left her burnt and requiring medical care. ‘I was shooting from sunup to sundown on the beach. Obviously, shooting on the beach without sunscreen is insane,’ she notes – ‘But I did it to get good shots.’
Winnie, as a child, had pretty negative experiences with sun protection.
‘Visiting my dad in Jamaica [as a child], he’d slather SPF all over. I hated it. It was so thick and grey. As an adult, I thought, “Okay, this is something I’m going to take on”. Every inch of Cay Skin is the embodiment of me,’ she shares.
Winnie’s long known the power of natural ingredients to soothe a variety of skin complaints, too.
‘My family would cut aloe straight from the root and rub it on to my skin for sunburns, mosquito bites, any type of rash,’ she adds.
‘For Black women especially, when we have our hair done, it’s so empowering. I remember watching women come into my mom’s salon [in Jamaica] and leaving with that spark.’
As for what Winnie does to feel her best and really show up for her many roles? She sweats, of course.
‘I feel most capable when I’m going to the gym consistently…Lots of squats, pliés and TRX. My favourite [move] is Russian twists with a [medicine] ball.’
Get it, Winnie! And you can get your copy of WH’s June issue from today.
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