Written by Taylor Hakimi

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Kristen McMenamy by Max Vadukul

“Striking, shocking, feral-sexy, sometimes pretty and always inspiring, Kristen McMenamy had actually been working as a model for almost a decade before 1991, when she cut her naturally curly, long red hair into the severe black crop that transformed her facial features from slightly off to sculptural, and gained her membership in the androgyny club. When she did that, and a year later when the makeup artist François Nars shaved off her eyebrows, she became a star in the fashion world, although by then it was already known that this alien-looking, lanky extrovert would do anything for a picture. Her dramatic posing, exaggerated grimace, willingness to work nude—or covered in graffiti, or with wild animals—and keen understanding of how to skate the line between evocative and over-the-top are all reasons that Kristen is still working constantly and still pushing the envelope more than 20 years later.”