Just a fashionable flash in the pan?

Lara Stone in Vogue Paris, Issue Dec 09

A new craze is currently taking hold in the fickle world of fashion as it is almost something of a pre-requisite these days for models to be the proud owners of a diastema, or more commonly known as gap-teeth.

 At model casting calls this year for New York’s fashion week, one of the most coveted attributes for a model to have had was, yes, you guessed it, gap teeth.

 The trend is a significant and bold departure for an industry which has always prided itself on perfection. Many industry insiders believe the stark shift comes as designers, casting directors and the public all want to see characters and individuals.

 Stefano Tonchi, editor-in-chief of W magazine makes sense of the ongoing trend by saying, “It’s a love for the imperfect, and the authentic. These are values that are more and more important for younger generations. They want originality. The days of beautiful but generic models are gone, for now at least.”

 Dutch model Lara Stone, the model widely credited for making gap teeth fashionable, was named Vogue’s “Girl of the Year” 2009, and is currently the face of Calvin Klein. The September 2010 issue of Vogue features a 12 page spread of Stone, with every image of her flaunting her gap front teeth.

 It’s also not only gap-teeth which are becoming more and more popular in fashion today. Tattoos, piercing and even scars, which were once all somewhat frowned upon within the industry are now being celebrated as something alternative and fresh.

 It’s hard to tell how long this current fad within the industry will last, but we can be happy that perhaps the days of the waif like model, with the pre-conceived notion of beauty, gracing the covers of Vogue and the like may be numbered, and the quirky and unorthodox individuals will be the ones who are celebrated for their beauty instead.