Lindsey Wixson Biography and Photos

Lindsey Wixson (born April 11, 1994) is an American fashion model. She is known for her unique looks, defined in part by her "bee-stung lips", "rosebud pout", and gapped front teeth. John Galliano, Versace Vanitas, Miu Miu, Jill Stuart and Alexander McQueen have all booked her for campaigns.

As of May 2012, Wixson currently ranks 11th on the Top 50 Models Women list by MODELS.com.

Early life

Wixson was born in Wichita, Kansas on April 11, 1994 to Thomas, who works installing satellite dishes, and Michele, a school bus driver. She has a sister, Kirsten. Wixson inherited her gapped teeth from her dad. As a young girl she wanted to be either a chef or a lawyer. In middle school, she got teased by a group of girls who were always trying to beat her up. They called her gap a "parking lot", making Lindsey self-conscious about her looks. At 12 years old, and 5-feet, 7-inches tall, strangers would come up to her to tell her she could be a model, so she started researching it as a possible career. Around the same time, she was inspired by an article in the Reader's Digest about Bill Gates and other millionaires. "It was talking about how they took the chance and they took their opportunities and they took it to a whole other level", she says. So at 12, Wixson decided to become a model. She studied old copies of Vogue, looking moč Gisele, Christy and Kate's modeling route, as a same possibility for herself. Wixson first signed with a local agent in Kansas, but it was a situation where she'd email them and they'd get back to her three months later so her parents made the decision to take out a loan and drive down to Los Angeles.

Career
Breakthrough, 2009–10

Wixson began her modeling career in 2009 when she signed with Vision Models in Los Angeles. In June 2009, she went to New York where she was rejected by IMG Models and several other agencies because casting directors thought her looks would not translate well on and off the runway, except for one: Marilyn Agency. At just 15, she was hand-selected by Steven Meisel after finding a video of her on Models.com and booked her for Vogue Italia, her first job. Her runway debut was at the Spring 2010 New York Fashion Week walking for Cynthia Steffe. Wixson then went to Milan where she opened the spring 2010 Prada show and then closed for Miu Miu in Paris, both as exclusives, thus making her one of the most successful newcomers that season. By September, W editor Stefano Tonchi ran a full-page close-up of her lips and the gap in her teeth, her two most arresting features, in his first issue of W magazine. She then became the face of Miu Miu's Spring 2010 campaign shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. A press release about the campaign called her the "embodiment of a free-spirit on the cusp of womanhood" (she would stay with the brand for a two-season run). But, Wixson has her limits in what she models, during a W editorial shoot titled "Run of Show" shot by Craig McDean she requested a bra because her top was see-through, W notes that a lot of models wouldn't have done that. LIFE magazine photographed Wixson as she worked at New York Fashion Week. The story chronicles the life of how a 15-year-old teen model navigates her way through fittings, hair, makeup and the runway. She ended the season with the fall/winter campaigns for Miu Miu, Jill Stuart Beauty, Barney's, Versace Vanitas Fragrance, and Galliano. She also walked in a combined 44 shows in New York, Paris and Milan in the fall. And booked her first major magazine cover, for the i-D fall 2010 issue.

Rising star, 2011–present

Proclaimed as the modelling world's biggest rising star, Wixson started off the spring/summer 2011 season in campaigns for Mulberry, Barney's, Alexander McQueen, Jill Stuart, Jill Stuart's Night Jewels Fragrance, Jill Stuart Beauty, and Versace Vanitas Fragrance. As well as modeled for Chanel’s spring makeup collection. She did her first editorial work for Vogue, a two-model shoot with Coco Rocha. Her agent, Cheri Bowen at Marilyn Agency, said that Wixson is more interested in quality than quantity, "She's incredibly intelligent about the business. She's not about selling out". Wixson made her national television appearance on CNN, being introduced a "teen supermodel" at 17, as the cameras and reporter Alina Cho followed her home to Wichita to film her prom experience. Wixson has walked for a number of key labels this season, from Rodarte in New York to Zac Posen and Gaultier in Paris, but due to an allergic reaction to the make-up she had to cut her stint short at Paris Fashion Week, missing out on a number of the city's big shows.

Personal life

Wixson's hobbies include art and writing. When she finishes modeling Wixson said she would love to become a pilot. Her model friends include Camille Rowe Pourcheresse, Ethan Green, Aymeline Valade. Wixson currently has her GED. Wixson expressed that modelling really helped build her confidence and is inspired by Kate Moss's fashion style. In 2011, her prom dress was designed especially for her by Jason Wu, the same designer who designed Michelle Obama's dress for the inauguration.