We're Going to Be Friends

Meg White is a bit of a wallflower. Actually, that's an understatement. She speaks so quietly, she has to be subtitled on The White Stripes' DVD Under Great White Northern Lights, and responds to most interview questions by smiling coyly, eyes flickering to the ground, as she reflexively tucks her hair behind her ear again and again. But as a drummer she seems almost fearless...childlike, as Jack White once said. Drumming is a decidedly unladylike choice of instrument, and Meg is a decidedly ladylike woman. Not feminine. per say, but elegant and understated. She dresses with an almost Parisian minimalism that feels at once uncontrived and intentional. T-shirts are a staple of her wardrobe in Under Great White Northern Lights,  but so are a chic black swing coat and a pair of towering wedges, seen above. Her long hair serves as a security blanket and a trademark (Meg is known to suffer from anxiety, once so severe that they had to cancel an entire tour). She never once wears it pulled back, and it whips around her constantly as she drums. When she smiles, it's behind closed lips and with downcast eyes. 

In just about every way, she's the opposite of my female style icon of music, Karen O. Tethered and hidden behind a drum set, wearing a simple pants and t-shirt combo, Meg is miles from the blatant, powerful exhibitionism I so adore in Karen O. But her magnetism is just as strong. Perhaps it's the air of mystery about her that results from rabid introversion, but to watch her is to be overcome with a compulsion to know her. 

See my post on Karen O here.

All images taken from Under Great White Northern Lights.