KRISTEN MCMENAMY, MODEL ICON

The Spring/Summer 2010 Issue #3 of Love Magazine features iconic, beautiful models, who are all naked: Naomi, Kate, Daria, Jeneil, Lara, Amber, Natalia…and Kristen.

The Kristen McMenamy images with Mert & Marcus burn your retinas. Not because she’s nude, but because she has that 20 yard stare.  Her body contorts gracefully, and her pictures are alive in a way that everybody else’s are not.

Kristen McMenamy is bigger than beautiful, and better than hot. She’s said of herself, "I know I am a great model. You can't just be really beautiful. Being able to change is a major part of the longevity of a model. If you have one look, then you're going to die out in three or four years."

Back in the day, she was the weird girl. Her face was never the image of perfection that Christy Turlington, Stephanie Seymour, or Linda Evangelista presented to the world, but Kristen’s eyes haunted you. She seemed mad, in the English sense. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

She seemed to come from another world - someplace where people only lived to take amazing pictures that knocked the breath out of you.  One example is her spread in Italian Vogue last year. Captured by Steven Meisel (a longtime purveyor of the strangely beautiful, and a key part of the supermodel phenom of the 90’s), every shot brings the fashion dream to life. She commands the page in a totally un-self-conscious way. Maybe it’s because she wears the clothes, and the clothes don’t wear her.  Even in shots of her dressed only in her skin, she stands as if clad in couture.

That ability to put the clothing first has kept her on all the best runways, but the latest Viktor & Rolf show catapulted her to ultimate paper doll status. The designers had Kristen open the show, wearing every piece in their F/W 2010 line. As she stood there, completely expressionless, they peeled every layer off, and put the clothing on a succession of strutting mannequins. And then? They dressed her right back up again. I really can’t think of any other model around today who could pull that off.

At 44, Kristen is a model powerhouse, fully deserving of the prefix ‘super’.  She started modeling late, and went through a long period of hard work to achieve her iconic status, but she only gets better with age. She’s stopped dyeing her naturally grey hair, which has started a trend. She’s been a paper doll, a monster, and a muse, in addition to becoming a mother of four children and the wife of photographer Miles Aldridge.

Like Carmen Del Orifice, she’ll be working long after everyone has left (or been ejected) from the party. She sums it up best in the Love interview, where she openly admits: “The one place I do feel good, where I feel this is me, is in front of the camera or on the catwalk. I can work it.”

Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.