Charlotte Free’s Small Refusal

In early 2012 Charlotte Free was everywhere—pink hair, IMG Models, the kind of face that read well in both glossy fashion and underground editorial. What kept her interesting, at least for a moment, was the armpit hair. Not a political manifesto, just hair that hadn’t been removed, showing up in shoots that otherwise followed every other rule. Whether it was hers or the photographer’s idea barely matters. The pictures had a texture that most model-on-white-background work doesn’t. She looked like a person who’d made a choice, even if that choice was just to not shave.