Total Pro
19 October 2023
Charlotte Stevens fills a neon-yellow Nike sports bra to capacity, the highlighter-bright fabric stretched so tight it seems to vibrate against the powder-blue wall behind her. Black Nike Pro shorts sit low on her tattooed hips, and the neon waistband peeks above them like an underline on a sentence that was already emphatic. A teal velvet sofa, a cow-hide rug, and an Edison-bulb lamp set the scene somewhere between industrial loft and country retreat, while a floor-to-ceiling window reveals rolling green hills outside. A framed painting of a woman hangs on the wall as if acknowledging the competition, and losing. Charlotte pulls at the waistband with bubblegum-pink nails, her platinum waves framing a face that is calm, direct, and completely in command.
The yellow bra peels away and Charlotte settles into the teal cushions, one hand cupping the side of her chest, the other resting on a densely tattooed thigh. The ink that runs from her hip to her ankle is a gallery in itself, crowns and roses and portrait work woven into a single, unbroken sleeve of greyscale. The Nike shorts join the discarded bra on the side table, and she stretches nude against the sofa with one arm behind her head, the countryside panorama through the glass creating an improbable contrast: green pastures outside, this extraordinary woman inside. Total Pro fits on every level. Charlotte does not practice her craft; she has mastered it.
