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Biography
Infobox model| name = Karen Elson| image = Karen Elson June 2010 e.jpg| image_size = 220px| caption = Elson in June 2010| birth_date = Birth date and age|df=y|1979|1|14| birth_place = Oldham , Greater Manchester , England| height = convert|1.75|m|ftin|abbr=on| hair_colour = Red| eye_colour = Blue| occupation = Model, musician| years_active = 1995–present| measurements = (US) 33-24.5-34.5; (EU) 84-62-87.5| weight =| dress size = (US) 2; (EU) 34| shoe_size = (US) 9; (EU) 41| spouse = Jack White (musician)|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 Italia|Vogue on her 18th birthday. She has worked with most of the world's major fashion photographers and fashion designers, including Bruce Weber (photographer)|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), Jean-Paul Gaultier , Chanel , Dolce & Gabbana , Versace , YSL, Alexander McQueen , Christian Dior|Dior , and Gucci . She has appeared in international campaigns for dozens of designers including Yves Saint Laurent (brand)|Yves Saint Laurent , Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton , Gianni Versace S.p.A.|Versace , Christian Dior , Burberry and Chanel .
Her list of magazine covers include multiple international editions of Vogue (magazine)|Vogue as well as W (magazine)|W , Dazed & Confused (magazine)|Dazed & Confused , Numéro , British '' Harper's Bazaar , Marie Claire , Elle (magazine)|Elle , Lula , Foam Magazine and Nylon (magazine)|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 (magazine)|Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment".cite web|url= http://www.sassybella.com/2007/04/vogues-worlds-next-top-models-cover/|title=Vogue’s ‘World’s Next Top Models’ cover|last=Lee|first=Helen|date=11 April 2007|publisher=SassyBella.com|accessdate=18 April 2011 In 2005, Elson won the British Fashion Award for Best Model.
In September 2008 Elson was on the cover of Vogue (British magazine)|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 (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 (clothing)|St. John announced that Elson would be replacing Angelina Jolie as the new face of their company. http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/a-line/angelina-jolie-replaced-in-ad-campaign/337/? nc dead link|date=November 2011 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.cite web|url= http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/tom-ford-lensman-target-casts-hardison-turn-of-events-1963886|title=Tom Ford, Lensman...|last=Scheidnes|first=Jean|date=3 February 2009|work= Women's Wear Daily |publisher=Fairchild Fashion Group|accessdate=February 10, 2011
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 (clothing)|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 has appeared in many short films and videos, including the music video for The White Stripes 's " Blue Orchid ", directed by Floria Sigismondi . http://www.whitestripes.com/video/video.html "Blue Orchid," directed by Floria Sigismondi She has also appeared in fashion films such as Steven Meisel and Darren Lew's War Opera , http://www.darrenlew.com/bw.html War Opera , directed by Steven Meisel and Darren Lew Nick Knight (photographer)|Nick Knight 's Andy Warhol -inspired series More Beautiful Women , http://www.showstudio.com/projects/mbw/24.mov SHOWstudio: More Beautiful Women , directed by Nick Knight Craig McDean 's 48 Girls , http://showstudio.com/projects/48girls/ SHOWstudio: 48 Girls , directed by Craig McDean and Bruce Weber (photographer)|Bruce Weber 's Petit Fleur, Harlequin, Voodoo Daddy, Closer Walk With Thee and ''Karen's Boogie (all films were made in conjunction with W (magazine)|W as a tribute to New Orleans ). http://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/2008/04/new_orleans_videos W'' Presents: Bruce Weber's 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. http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm? fuseaction=vids.individual& videoid=7729378 Lay Down Lean , by The Belles Of The Black Diamond Field
Elson has contributed to Nick Knight (photographer)|Nick Knight 's fashion site SHOWstudio.com since 2002. She also contributed to Nick Knight (photographer)|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 (Can't Help It)|Falling In Love Again ." http://www.showstudio.com/projects/movingfashion/movies/index.php/2005/11/15 SHOWstudio: Moving Fashion- "Falling In Love Again"
In 2008, Elson opened a vintage boutique in Nashville, Tennessee with Amy Patterson. http://gothamist.com/2007/06/12/the_citizens_ba.php "Karen Elson's Otherworldly Boutique Opens In Nashville," Black Book magazine (2008) 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." http://www.myspace.com/venusandmarstheshowroom Venus & Mars - The Showroom 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 jewelry 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. http://www.papermag.com/? section=article& parid=998 "Welcome to the Citizens Band" in Paper magazine (2006) 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 Fariña|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. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm? fuseaction=user.viewProfile& friendID=345568404 The Citizens Band on MySpace Music Short samples of her performances are available on the troupe's website as well. http://thecitizensband.net/shows_trepanning.shtml Elson performing "Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier" in The Citizens Band's "The Trepanning Opera" http://thecitizensband.net/shows_chewing.shtml Elson performing "A Hundred Years From Now" and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" in The Citizens Band's "Chewing Up The Scenery"
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 (Robert Plant album)| Dreamland . http://www.webwombat.com.au/lifestyle/fashion_beauty/elson.htm "Karen Elson" by Sara Templeton In 2005 a personal recording of Elson singing was made available on a CD accompanying the August 2005 issue of Uncut (magazine)| Uncut magazine (the song was titled "Coming Down"). The song was chosen by REM singer Michael Stipe. http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp? catalogid=373879 Elson's "Coming Down" on The REM Collection Disc 2: Michael Stipe Presents... In 2006 she dueted with Cat Power on a provocative cover version of " Je t'aime... moi non plus|I Love You (Me Either) " for Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited , a tribute album to French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg . http://monsieurgainsbourg.artistes.universalmusic.fr/uk/02monsieur_gainsbourg_revisited.php Elson's duet with Cat Power, "I Love You (Me Either)" on Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited 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 (musician)|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? ’”. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/karen-elson/ “Karen Elson” Interview Magazine In February 2010, it was announced that Elson would be releasing her debut solo album The Ghost Who Walks , produced by Jack White (musician)|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 (song)|Season of the Witch " over the credits of the episode "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'? ". The thirteenth episode of Fringe Season 4, "A Better Human Being" featured Karen's song "The Ghost Who Walks".
Albums
The Ghost Who Walks - Third Man Records /XL Recordings - 2010
Personal life
Karen Elson met Jack White (musician)|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. http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/68042.htm Jack White and Karen Elson welcome first child," New York Post (2006) Their second child, Henry Lee White, was born on August 7, 2007. http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/08/white.stripes.ap/index.html "White Stripes' couple welcome baby boy," CNN (2007) The family lived in Nashville, Tennessee . http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1528088/04062006/williams_sr_hank.jhtml "Nashville Skyline: When Country Goes Pop," CMT (2006) They announced their divorce in June 2011 . http://www.avclub.com/articles/jack-white-and-karen-elson-throw-themselves-a-divo,57383/ "Jack White and Karen Elson throw themselves a divorce party " AV Club (2011)
References
Reflist|2
External links
External links|date=June 2011
http://www.karenelson.com Karen Elson official website
fashionmodel|id=Karen_Elson|name=Karen Elson
http://www.thecitizensband.net The Citizens Band official site
http://gothamist.com/2007/06/12/the_citizens_ba.php Interview with The Citizens Band in Gothamist (2007)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_1_36/ai_n16017100 Interview with The Citizens Band in Interview Magazine (2006)
http://www.showstudio.com/projects/pfw04vm/info.html Elson's "Phonecarte" project through SHOWstudio in October 2004
http://www.papermag.com/? section=article& parid=175 "Painting The Town Red With Karen Elson": an article from Paper Magazine (1999)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml? html=%2Farchive%2F1998%2F03%2F21%2Fefels21.html "The Chic Freak": an article from the Telegraph (1998)
http://www.tessmanagement.com/details.aspx? subid=6500& modelid=240587& mainsubid=2365 Portfolio of magazine covers at Tess Management
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1083264/ Karen Elson on IMDb
2000-2009VSFashion ShowJack White Persondata | NAME =Elson, Karen | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =14 January 1979 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Oldham , Greater Manchester , England | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Elson, Karen Category:1979 births Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:Living people Category:People from Oldham Category:English female models Category:English female singers Category:English female guitarists Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Jack White (musician)
