Karen Elson

Elson in 2006.
Date of birth	14 January 1979 (1979-01-14) (age 31)
Place of birth	Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Height	5'10" ; 178cm
Hair colour	Red
Eye colour	Blue
Measurements	(US) 33-24.5-34.5 ; (EU) 84-62-87.5
Dress size	(US) 2 ; (EU) 34
Shoe size	(US) 9 ; (EU) 41
Spouse(s)	Jack White

Karen Elson (born 14 January 1979 in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England) is a British model and singer. Her trademarks are her red hair and her eyebrows, which fashion photographer Steven Meisel once persuaded her to shave off.

Career in fashion

Elson has walked the runways of many top fashion designers including Marc Jacobs (which she did while pregnant), Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace. She has appeared in international campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Christian Dior, Burberry and Chanel, to name a small number. She has also been on the covers of many international magazines such as Vogue, W, Dazed & Confused, Numéro, Marie Claire, Elle, and others.

In 1998 she won model of the year at the VH1 fashion awards (the year after Kate Moss won). In 2005, Elson won the British Fashion Award for Best Model, over fellow catwalkers Lily Donaldson and Danny Beauchamp.

Elson has been quite vocal about how damaging the fashion industry can be to young women.^{citation needed}

She has appeared in many short films and videos, including the music video for The White Stripes's "Blue Orchid", directed by Floria Sigismondi.¹ She has also appeared in fashion films such as Cyril Guyot's Tom Ford Is Missing, Steven Meisel and Darren Lew's War Opera,² Nick Knight's Andy Warhol-inspired series More Beautiful Women,³ Craig McDean's 48 Girls,⁴ Thomas Lenthal's Yves Saint Laurent Printemps-Été 2006,⁵ Tim Walker's Pictures, and Bruce Weber's Petit Fleur, Harlequin, Voodoo Daddy, Closer Walk With Thee and Karen's Boogie (all films were made in conjunction with W as a tribute to New Orleans).⁶ Elson has been featured in commercials for Max Azria's BCBG line⁷ and Kose cosmetics. She has also appeared in the short film Lay Down Lean, a project by the experimental filmmaking team The Belles Of The Black Diamond Field.⁸

Elson has contributed to Nick Knight's fashion site SHOWstudio.com since 2002. Among her contributions is a video of her singing Danzig's "Devil's Plaything" with Melissa Auf der Maur at the Chelsea Hotel.⁹ She also contributed to Knight's project "Moving Fashion" with a black and white video of herself in a sequined gown, perched upon a swing. The images were accompanied by Elson playing the autoharp and singing a verse of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling In Love Again."¹⁰

As of October 23, 2008 Elson has been managing a vintage boutique in Nashville, Tennessee with Venus & Mars' Amy Patterson.¹¹. The boutique is called Venus & Mars- The Showroom and features "high end rare vintage garments and adornments to cheap and cheerful vintage dress and jewels."¹². In 2010, American fashion brand St. John announced that Elson would be replacing Angelina Jolie as the new face of their company.¹³ She is currently the face of YSL Opium perfume.

Music

Karen has mentioned in interviews that she had always been interested in music, but after becoming a model at age 16 she found it more difficult to dedicate any time to it. However in 2003 she contributed backing vocals to a remix of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her" off of Plant's album Dreamland.¹⁴ She briefly dated James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins and the pair had recorded a couple of songs but they were never released.¹⁵¹⁶ In 2005 a personal recording of Elson singing was made available on a CD accompanying the August 2005 issue of Uncut magazine (the song was titled "Coming Down"). The song was choose by REM singer Michael Stipe¹⁷ It wasn't until 2006 that Elson received attention, singing the provocative "I Love You (Me Either)" with Cat Power on Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited, a tribute album to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.¹⁸

Elson is currently a creative director and performer with the New York City based political cabaret troupe The Citizens Band, appearing with them at various nightlife hotspots as well as the 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.¹⁹ As one of the leaders of The Citizens Band she has performed a variety of songs including well received covers of The Velvet Underground, Kurt Weill, Elvis Presley, Mimi and Richard Fariña, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Marlene Dietrich. Her cover of The Velvet Underground's "Candy Says" is available on The Citizen Band's MySpace page.²⁰ Short samples of her performances are available on the troupe's website as well.²¹²²

In July 2008 she accompanied She & Him during a live show in Nashville, Tennessee, performing "Tennessee Waltz" alongside Zooey Deschanel.

She also contributed vocals on David Pajo's Francie's Song under the alias Bonnie Parker.

Personal life

As a child, Elson attended North Chadderton School in Chadderton with her twin sister, film maker Kate Elson.

Elson met Jack White when she appeared in The White Stripes music video for "Blue Orchid". The video's director, Floria Sigismondi noted "you sensed an energy between them." Just one month later on June 1, 2005 in Manaus, Brazil they married. The wedding took place in a canoe in the Amazon River and was officiated by a shaman. A Catholic priest later blessed the ceremony. Official wedding announcements curiously stated that "it was the first marriage" for both.²³ The White Stripes's manager Ian Montone served as best man while drummer Meg White was the maid of honor.

On May 2, 2006, the couple had a daughter, named Scarlett Teresa White.²⁴ Their second child, Henry Lee White, was born on August 7, 2007.²⁵ In the announcement, White's publicist confirmed that the children's last name was White, not Gillis. This caused a minor stir amongst fans and in the media considering the surname belongs to White's ex-wife and bandmate, Meg.²⁶²⁷ The family now reside in Nashville, Tennessee. ²⁸

References

External links

• Karen Elson at Fashion Model Directory
• Elson's profile at New York Magazine
• The Citizens Band official site
• Interview with The Citizens Band in Gothamist (2007)
• Interview with The Citizens Band in Interview Magazine (2006)
• Elson's "Phonecarte" project through SHOWstudio in October 2004
• "Painting The Town Red With Karen Elson": an article from Paper Magazine (1999)
• "The Chic Freak": an article from the Telegraph (1998)
• Karen Elson on IMDb