Tara Shannon

Tara Shannon is the Forest Gump of Modeling. Her knack for being at the forefront of a trend is uncanny.
What a career. She did it all: Covers, editorial, couture, runways, advertising, catalogues, commercials, television, movies, music video’s. She was Ring Mistress for Cirque du Soleil AND trained with them in Canada; she was on Oprah twice; married Spiderman at Shea stadium in front of 50,000 fans in a Patrick Kelly wedding gown and then was written up in the wedding section of the NY Times; co-hosted with Joan Rivers’ on her television show, did a schtick with Jerry Seinfeld on MTV. She could do anything. She wisely marketed herself as: “The Woman of a Thousand Faces.” Her Bride of Frankenstein for Huey Lewis was hysterical – you can still see it on YouTube – and I remember a composite she did as Joan Crawford, Marcel Marceau, Tina Louis and David Bowie. She has a lot of iconic images from her shoots with Helmut Newton, Avedon and Irving Penn. I loved her work with Albert Watson and Francios Lamy for English and Italian Vogue. Did you ever see the spread she shot with Ruven Afanador as a beaten down, tragic Marlene Deitrich? Brutal. Brilliant.

She grew up with a political activist mother who worked with the Black Panthers; the FBI wiretapped their phone and the police tear gassed their house. From this she ends up socializing with old Hollywood, new Rock and Roll, and international royalty. I heard she’s writing a book. It’s about time.

By John Stanny, award winning advertising genius

www.tarashannon.com