Karen Elson

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Karen Elson (born 14 January 1979 in Bolton, England) is a British supermodel.

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, Burberry and Jean Paul Gaultier, to name a few.

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 provided vocals for former Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant's song "Last Time I Saw Her", which also featured guitars by James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins fame. Elson has other minor collaborations with Iha, her former boyfriend, and was at one time taking singing lessons from him. 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 several journalists likening her voice to that of Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. 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.

In 2002, Elson admitted to battling bulimia nervosa for the previous four years.

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.^[1]