Karen Elson - Career in Fashion

Career in Fashion

Born in in Oldham, Lancashire, 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), 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 Autumn 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 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 jewelry for fashion brand Nine West. The items became available in the Fall of 2011.

In August 2012, Elson was one of eight British models chosen to walk during a segment at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. She wore a gold gown by Burberry and walked the stadium with her fellow models to David Bowie's song "Fashion."