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| Birth Name(s) : Karen Elson |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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| Profession:
Model |
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Full Karen Elson Biography
A modeling scout discovered a 16-year-old Elson on the street in her industrial hometown near Manchester, England, and soon she was off to London. "It was completely insane," she remembers, her ocean-blue eyes widening. "But I got off on the fact that I was looking out for myself." After little success in London, a penniless Elson relocated to Paris, where she shacked up in a matchbook-size flat near the red light district. "I didn't even have a mattress and there were cockroaches all over the place. No phone. No TV. I didn't know anyone in Paris. I was totally depressed." Soon she was sent to Tokyo, where she made some money. "I totally let my hair down in Japan. It gave me some soul to continue." Elson then tried Milan before moving to New York just before her 18th birthday. She lived first with Eileen Ford and plugged along until a fateful meeting with photographer Steven Meisel changed everything. After a Meisel spread in Italian Vogue, Elson shaved off her eyebrows and chopped her flame-red hair into a blunt cut. The startling look landed her on the cover of Italian Vogue. "It was a strong image. No one had ever seen it before and it catapulted me into this whole new realm. It was a catalyst," she explains. "That's when this whole crazy madness started. I haven't stopped working." After rooming with her best friends, models Erin O'Connor and Maggie Rizer, Elson moved on her own to a cozy place in Tribeca with a view of the Hudson River.
For drinks on the D.L., Elson grooves on the sleazy, skid-row vibe of the Hog Pit or for mellow nights, the serene N. "I've been to your Moombas and Spy Bars," she admits. "I've done that whole circuit. My idea of a good night out is just taking as it comes." A fan of live rock music, Elson regularly checks out CBGBs, Mercury Lounge and Irving Plaza. For boogie nights, she loves Mother. "It's wicked there," she says with a twinkle in her eye. "The music rocks. I love the vampire night. All the freaks hanging out... I'm a freak as well, so I can really let down my hair."
After a late night, Elson's recovery remedy is a trip to the Millefleurs day spa in Tribeca for a manicure, body wrap and massage. For facials, she states simply: "Bliss rocks."
"Being a model ain't a hard life," the beauty admits. "Models get dissed. People are so critical of you. If I'm out at night and someone asks me what I do, sometimes I just don't answer." Elson plans on working the catwalk for a few more years but hasn't decided what she wants to do after modeling. "If I say anything, I'm in such a public place that people will always want to bring me down," she reasons. "More than anything else, I want to prove to myself that I can do something well. I don't really give a damn what anyone else thinks." |
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Additional Karen Elson Biography
Her trademarks are her red hair and her eyebrows, which fashion photographer Steven Meisel once persuaded her to shave off.
Elson has walked the runways of many top fashion designers including Marc Jacobs (which she did while pregnant), Chanel and Roberto Cavalli. She has appeared in international campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Christian Dior, Burberry and Chanel, to name a few. She has also modelled topless.
In 2005, Elson won the British Fashion Award for Best Model, over fellow catwalkers Lily Donaldson and Danny Beauchamp.
She is also known as a singer and performer. She briefly dated James Iha in 2001. They recorded a couple of songs together which were released. She sang the provocative "I love you (Me either)" with Cat Power on a tribute album to French songwriter and singer Serge Gainsbourg. Karen is currently a creative director and performer with the New York City- based politically minded cabaret troupe The Citizens Band and has performed with them at various night life hotspots as well as at downtown power-house gallery Deitch Projects. Critical response to Karen's performances have been unequivocally positive, with the press frequently commenting on her striking vocal skills. As one of the leaders of The Citizens Band she has performed a variety of songs including well received covers of The Velvet Underground, Mimi and Richard Farina, Pete Seeger, and Leonard Cohen.
On June 1, 2005, she married Jack White (of the bands The Raconteurs and The White Stripes) in Brazil. The wedding took place in a canoe in the Amazon River and was officiated by a shaman. A Catholic priest later blessed the ceremony. Elson first met Jack while filming the White Stripes video for the single "Blue Orchid" directed by Floria Sigismondi. Elson gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Scarlett Teresa, on May 2, 2006 in Tennessee. The couple's second child, a boy, named Henry Lee, was born on August 7, 2007. |
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Karen Elson Quote(s)
| At school I got harassed so badly for being too tall, too thin, too pale - too everything that has gotten me where I am now, which is quite ironic. |
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