Serena Williams clearly awakened and selected hazard this week — and Instagram felt it.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, the tennis legend dropped a five-slide thirst lure that stopped loads of thumbs mid-scroll. It seems like Williams traded in her typical sporty glam for an edgy, rocker curve-hugging look that left little room for creativeness and even much less room for debate.
Williams slipped into an extended, black lace costume that draped all the best way to her ankles. Beneath the see-through cloth, she gave the impression to be rocking nothing however a buttoned black blazer over a single piece of black high-waisted lingerie, leaving followers squinting to see if one structured layer may tame the boldness of the whole lot occurring beneath.
Within the pictures, she posed towards a daring black-and-white striped wall, planted on a vivid crimson ground splashed with outsized painted lips in each colour — a backdrop that made her outfit look much more intentional, and even tougher to disregard.
In a single picture, Williams glared seductively at a cellphone whereas working her fingers via her blond hair, which lined one eye. Within the second image, she leaned into the nook of the wall with one leg propped up, then poked her chest out and pushed her backside again within the third.
She wrote, “Lace me up and prepared the ground,” within the caption.
Nonetheless, followers appeared much more fixated on Williams’ daring, sassy new look than the glam-squad cameo — her entire vibe stole the highlight, leaving folks questioning what sort of evening she and her group had been actually having.
“OH SERENA WOW,” mentioned one shocked social media person, whereas one other mentioned, “Ouhhh she in her dangerous gurl period.” “Dammmnnn,” observed a 3rd.
One individual referenced her 23-time Grand Slam wins, writing, “Ma’am, you already gained 23 Grand Slams, depart some excellence for the remainder of us.”
Others praised the work of Williams’ glam group.
“Please maintain this glam group,” one individual begged, whereas one other famous, “Among the finest glam footage of you.”
“That’s Ms. Angela Meadows’ work proper there,” added a fifth individual.
Williams’ glam squad even popped up in an elevator selfie for the fourth slide, that includes stylist Kesha McLeod and hairstylist Angela Meadows.
McLeod has been shaping the tennis icon’s type for greater than 14 years, and Meadows has been behind her hair for nicely over a decade. The precise second their glam partnership formally started is somewhat murky, however Meadows’ receipts return to 2012 — posting throwback photographs and credit from business shoots and advert campaigns she says she dealt with for Williams lengthy earlier than the world caught on.
The one slot Williams switches up most is her make-up artist. For these daring photographs, she selected Pauline Briscoe — a longtime favourite who’s been behind lots of her standout seems. Williams has labored with a number of MUAs over time, together with Jai Forbes-Cunningham, Renny Vasquez, and artists from Adjinaya Make Up.
However with Briscoe dealing with most of her current glam, followers are already urging her to stay with the group that’s clearly getting it proper.
Serena Williams goes viral after understanding to get thinner. Ideas? 🤔 👀 pic.twitter.com/AWTpkb6zJY
— Rain Drops Media (@Raindropsmedia1) August 11, 2025
In some ways, Williams seems like she’s entering into an entire new period. After welcoming two kids previously eight years, followers say they’ve watched her slowly come out of her shell — getting bolder, extra playful, and much much less anxious about becoming into anybody’s expectations.
And when her fitness center pictures went viral earlier this yr, sparking a frenzy over her noticeably slimmer body, Williams dodged the dialog for months till just lately. She overtly admitted she’d been utilizing weight-loss dietary supplements to drop round 30 kilos, a uncommon little bit of honesty that solely fueled extra speak about her transformation and the arrogance she appears to be reclaiming piece by piece.