V65: Karen Elson by Glen Luchford

She sang in the choir, and, at 14, even joined (albeit briefly) her school’s newly founded, come-one, come-all student Salsa band. “It was all the kids who’d been studying music since, like, age 4, and then I walk in like, ‘Yeah! I’m into this!’ It lasted maybe no more than a month,” Elson laughs. “But it was fun. I felt different. I wanted to do something different.” Stuck in Oldham, however, she saw no reason to pursue it. “Where I grew up, there weren’t many people who managed to break out of the sleepy English mold. So I don’t think I would have had the motivation. I just didn’t have it in me.” – Karen Elson for V Magazine #65

V65, “The Summer Scorcher issue,” does not hit newsstands until May 11th, for more inf log on to vmagazine.com.
*Courtesy of V Magazine