01. Naima Mora
Naima, Naima. Litteraly one of the most beautiful girls to have ever stepped on antm, and probably one of the better winner this show ever crowned. To me, she was the kind of girl that has something special.
During the first half of the show, Naima pretty much flew under the radar, both in terms of editing and performance. She was almost absent from our screens, and her photos varied from good to mediocre, without ever impressing me. It took a long time until the moment she wowed me from the first time, and she might ended up with a quite low call out order average because of that. Her problem was that she often took the concepts to litteraly, and forgot to keep the model extra element in her pictures. In other terms, she was a bit predictable, and lacked the wow factor. Plus, she had the tendency to commit too much to her already edgy look, which would result sometimes in photos off-concept.
Naima eventually made it to the top 7 and managed to avoid elimination until then. And this is precisely the moment when Naima came alive as a model. She learned to tone down her facial expressions and body languages, in order to deliver brilliant photographs and interpretations of the various brief. Her 7 deadly sins shot was amazing, as well as her overall performance on set, because they did show a bit of her film on set, and from what I saw she took stunning pictures after stunning pictures. Right after she kicked things up in South Africa. Aside her average kloofing shot, her pictures all were stunning, and she culminated in her very last photo ; the covergirl campaign. It is rare when a girlâs best photo is the covergirl shot, but in the case of Naima it was just an evidence. I guess it was refreshing to see her producing such an iconic picture for a commercial girly brief, because it totally went against her brand and proved she was capable of anything.
Not only her photos where beautiful, but her presence and look in person were mesmerizing. Every time she would get into the character on set, I would immediatly be drawn to her beauty. Just observe that :
Naimaâs beauty was absolutely sensationnal, not many antm girls captivated me as much as she did.
Finally, the ultimate element making Naima the undeniable winner of cycle 4 to me : her walk. Naima probably is one of the best walker this show ever had. She could go over the top and seem a little bit agressive at times, but I absolutely loves that about her. The power she had on the final runway was supernatural, it took my breath away. Poor Kahlen was totally outshined by Naimaâs performance. I donât think that Kahlen ÂŤÂ failed her final exam  as Tyra said in the final judging session. To me, Naima just was so good that nobodyâs walk could rival hers. It was the final wow moment I needed from Naima to consider her as a good winner : and fortunately she provided it.
In the end, Kahlen may was a better photo model overall, but she faltered in the last couple of weeks while Naima rose to the top and destroyed any competition in the finale. And if her portfolio was a bit weaker, it still contains the best covergirl photo of antm history. Then, Naima is a stellar runway walker, the best of her cycle hands down, as well as having one of the most interesting face and look Iâve ever seen. As much as I love Kahlen, you can not hand her the title of Americaâs Next Top Model when she stands next to someone like Naima. She just is a girl you can not ignore, as well as the rightful winner of cycle 4.
