Singer Lily Allen rocketed to fame in 2005 with “Smile,” a breezy, sassy kiss-off to a former boyfriend, and since then, hardly a day has gone by that she hasn’t been splashed in the pages of the infamously caustic British tabloids. The Lily they portray is brash, unladylike (whatever that means), aggressive, a brat, and a party girl. And all the while, the 23-year-old pop star racks up new fans and notches impressive sales. Her debut, Alright, Still, has sold two a half million copies and counting, and her new CD, It’s Not Me, It’s You, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard album charts in February.
The latest portrayal of Lily Allen, however, is a complete departure from her tabloid image: For a new ad campaign promoting London’s National Portrait Gallery, Nadav Kander made a striking portrait of the singer that has got the British press buzzing with surprise. As Marie Claire raved in an online post, “We’ve never seen Lily Allen looking quite like this before.”
For more on Allen and on Kander’s portrait, please visit the NPG’s website: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/news2/take-another-look/lily-allen.php
