Gap-Toothed Girls and Why We LOVE Lara Stone

Some of the world's most famous beauties are blessed with gap-teeth.  Strange beauty has always enamoured - wasn't it Plato who said something about beauty being in the eye of the beholder?  


Natural beauty is not something that can be categorized.  It is what it is.  Sometimes, what makes someone beautiful is what sets them apart from the everyday.

VOGUE American October 2010

Trends come and go, but trends don't just refer to items of clothes, accessories or your hair style.  We've seen the girl, gold and diamond stuffed tooth caps, and now it seems that having gap-teeth is no longer considered a flaw, it is the look du jour.

The gap or space between two front teeth is known scientifically as Diastema and it happens when there is an unequal relationship between the size of the teeth and the jaw.  It can also happen by way of tongue thrusting which can push the teeth apart.


Karl Largefeld and Paris VOGUE have all claimed Lara Stone their latest muse with VOGUE devoting their February 09 issue to her, with shoots by Inez van Lamsweerde, Peter Lindbergh, Hedi Slimane, Nan Goldin and Steven Klein.

VOGUE Paris February 2009

Lara Stone was told to consider having her teeth fixed (and this by a very prominent magazine editor no less).  But why should she?  It is that which distinguishes her that makes her beautiful.  Popular folklore tells us that Barbra Streisand never considered rhinoplasty so she could be easier to cast, she didn't wish to be like everyone else.  Cindy Crawford was told to have her mole removed or she would never make it as a model.  Lauren Hutton, the most famous gap-toothed model of all, she was the first model ever to land a million dollar cosmetics campaign and she is still going strong at 65.  

Why do we find it necessary to define a person's beauty if their beauty is deemed to be unconventional?  Human nature perhaps? There are in fact many, many famous beauties that we know and love who have gap teeth, or some other flaw for which they were at first rejected, ridiculed or told to fix.

Georgia May Jagger in her advertisement for Australian brand Invisible Zinc.

VOGUE Paris May 2010

Lara Stone stands out because she is not your typical runway and editorial model.  She has unusually small feet (size 7) for her 178 cm frame, (most sample sizes are 8 and 9), and she is considerably curvier and bustier than many of her peers.  Lara knows that being a model is to act in the role chosen for her and is content to convey any look or character a photographer puts her in.  If you Google her, take a look at the amazing array of images you can find on Lara, and the incredible versatility she portrays.

 VOGUE Italia March 2010

Australian swimsuit model Jessica Hart says that the gap in her teeth is sometimes deemed to big.  She admits to having considered having her gap surgically removed, but since appearing in the 2009 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Swimsuit Edition, Hart has given up that idea all together.  "Some people won't book me because of it and sometimes they close it in post production, but that doesn't bother me."

Jessica Hart modeling for Seafolly

Academy Award winning actress Anna Paquin has let her gap stop her.  She has even been called "the most fetching gap-toothed actress in Hollywood", (source unknown) - nor has it stopped her from winning one of the most coveted TV roles in years, that of psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse in HBO's True Blood.

Anna Paquin

I guess you could say that over the years, popular culture has certainly broadened our view of what we think is beautiful. What I find so exciting is that today visionaries like Carine Roitfeld, Anna Dello Russo, Emmanuelle Alt, Tabitha Simmons, Giovanna Battaglia and Bloggers like Scott Schuman (aka The Sartorialist), Garance Dorè, Tommy Ton,(and you can count me among this list too because I am not going to leave myself out here!), we are leading the push to explore both beauty and style that is both diverse and inspirational.  



H