Karen Elson

Karen Elson
Elson in June 2010
Born	14 January 1979 (1979-01-14) Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation	Model, musician
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
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	Jack White (2005-2011) (filed for divorce)

Karen Elson (born 14 January 1979) is a British model, singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Career in fashion

Born in in Oldham, Greater Manchester, Karen Elson attended North Chadderton School in Chadderton as a child, with her twin sister, filmmaker Kate Elson.

She began working as a model as a teenager and was discovered at age 16 by the owner of Boss models in Manchester. Elson's success came when Steven Meisel shot her for the cover of Italian Vogue on her 18th birthday. She has worked with most of the world's major fashion photographers and fashion designers, including Bruce Weber, Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Mert and Marcus, Steven Klein, Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Meisel, Ellen Von Unwerth. She has walked the runways of many top designers including Marc Jacobs (which she did while pregnant), Shiatzy Chen, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, YSL, Alexander McQueen, Dior, and Gucci. She has appeared in international campaigns for dozens of designers including Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Christian Dior, Burberry and Chanel.

Her list of magazine covers include multiple international editions of Vogue as well as W, Dazed & Confused, Numéro, British Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Elle, Lula, Foam Magazine and Nylon. In 1998 she won the title of Model Of The Year at the VH1 Fashion Awards. Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment". In 2005, Elson won the British Fashion Award for Best Model.

In September 2008 Elson was on the cover of British Vogue - shot by Nick Knight - as "Fashion's Red Queen". It was then announced that Elson was the new face of British department store John Lewis for Autumn/Winter 2008/2009. In the Fall of 2009 she appeared on billboards internationally for H&M.

In 2010, American fashion brand St. John announced that Elson would be replacing Angelina Jolie as the new face of their company. In 2011 she was replaced by Kate Winslet. For the Tom Ford 2009 spring eyewear advertising campaigns Elson and male model Jon Kortajarena were photographed, for the first time, by Tom Ford himself.

Elson is currently the face of YSL Opium perfume. She appears in the Fall/Winter 2010/11 ad campaign of Louis Vuitton along with Natalia Vodianova and Christy Turlington, as well as the Trussardi 1911 Spring 2011 campaign. She was shot by Mert & Marcus for Roberto Cavalli's Fall 2011 campaign. Karen appears in the Steven Meisel Fall 2011 Lanvin campaign. The accompanying promotional video shows her dancing with Raquel Zimmerman to Pit Bull's "I Know You Want Me". Karen appears with her non identical twin sister Kate Elson in the 2011 H&M Holiday campaign. She is also the face of Banana Republic's 2011 Holiday Collection.

Elson models at an Anna Sui show in 2011.

Elson has appeared in many short films and videos, including the music video for The White Stripes's "Blue Orchid", directed by Floria Sigismondi. She has also appeared in fashion films such as Steven Meisel and Darren Lew's War Opera, Nick Knight's Andy Warhol-inspired series More Beautiful Women, Craig McDean's 48 Girls, 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). Elson has been featured in commercials for 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.

Elson has contributed to Nick Knight's fashion site SHOWstudio.com since 2002. 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."

In 2008, Elson opened a vintage boutique in Nashville, Tennessee with Amy Patterson. The boutique was called Venus & Mars- The Showroom and featured "high end rare vintage garments and adornments to cheap and cheerful vintage dress and jewels." The boutique closed in November 2010.

In 2010, she modeled a Patricia Field dress for the Sex and the City Archive in the Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief runway show for The White Ribbon Alliance to raise funds for mothers in Haiti.

On May 9, 2011, it was announced that Elson has designed her own line of shoes, bags and jewlery for fashion brand Nine West. The items became available in the Fall of 2011.

Career in music

Elson is a founding member and performer with the New York City based political cabaret troupe The Citizens Band, appearing with them at various theatres as well as the downtown art gallery Deitch Projects since 2004. Critical response to Elson'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 covers of The Velvet Underground, Kurt Weill, Elvis Presley, Mimi and Richard Fariña, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Marlene Dietrich. She has also written and co-written songs for the troupe's performances. Her cover of The Velvet Underground's "Candy Says" is available on The Citizen Band's MySpace page. Short samples of her performances are available on the troupe's website as well.

Elson's musical career has been building slowly over the past several years. In 2003 she contributed backing vocals to a remix of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her" from Plant's album Dreamland. 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 chosen by REM singer Michael Stipe. In 2006 she dueted with Cat Power on a provocative cover version of "I Love You (Me Either)" for Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited, a tribute album to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Elson contributed a version of "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" to the Buddy Holly tribute album Rave On Buddy Holly, released in June 2011.

Her first full length album was written, for the most part, in secret without letting her (then) husband Jack White hear what she was doing. “At home I would hide—I would play my songs really in isolation. I would lock the bathroom door and hide. Eventually he was like, ‘Why are you hiding this from me?’”. In February 2010, it was announced that Elson would be releasing her debut solo album The Ghost Who Walks, produced by Jack White. News of the album's release was made by a live acoustic performance video "The Ghost Who Walks (Acoustic)" posted on the internet. The album was released on Third Man Records via XL Recordings in May 2010. It received generally favorable reviews. Spin magazine gave it 7/10 and compared her voice to both Jenny Lewis and Loretta Lynn.

On September 2, 2010, Elson and her band performed on The Late Show With David Letterman.

The fourth season of HBO TV series, True Blood, featured Elson's cover of "Season of the Witch" over the credits of the episode "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?".

Albums

• The Ghost Who Walks - Third Man Records/XL Recordings - 2010

Personal life

Karen 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." They were married on June 1, 2005 in Manaus, Brazil. The White Stripes's manager Ian Montone served as best man while drummer Meg White, who is also Jack White's ex-wife, was the maid of honor.

On May 2, 2006, the couple had a daughter, named Scarlett Teresa White. Their second child, Henry Lee White, was born on August 7, 2007. The family lived in Nashville, Tennessee. They announced their divorce in June 2011 .

External links

• Karen Elson official website
• Karen Elson at Fashion Model Directory
• 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)
• Portfolio of magazine covers at Tess Management
• Karen Elson on IMDb