Beautiful People 2006: Tasha Tilberg
Just talking to Tasha Tilberg over the phone, you would never know that she's probably the most beautiful person on the face of the earth. Talking to Tasha, you get the impression that nothing could be less interesting to her than, for example, the fact that she has been on the cover of W magazine (yes, W). She's been in campaigns for Balenciaga and Lagerfeld and I'm on the phone with her after she's just walked the Milan runways, but she doesn't mention her modeling even once. Talking to Tasha, it's clear that what's interesting to her is her music. She gets worked up, as though she can't say enough. She says that if everyone left her alone, she would just hole up and write songs. She's been playing music her whole life -- played the tuba in grade school and is a self-described "good bass girl." Her influences? Everyone from the Dead Kennedys and the Misfits to the Grateful Dead.
Then she says, "Don't write this, but," and tells me something I'm not going to write. Then I ask her to describe her music. She says, "It's like a cross between PJ Harvey and Tom Waits. I sound like her, but I wish I were him. I'm totally obsessive about my music, a complete perfectionist." Her music name is Fox Glove . . . which is her favorite flower. According to Botanical.com, foxglove is "perhaps the handsomest of our indigenous plants." With its tall and stately spikes of flowers, foxglove is almost as beautiful as Tasha. But its loveliness, like hers, is deceptive. In our beauty-obsessed culture, you can forget that there is more to beauty than meets the eye. For example, foxglove can be poisonous. Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, irregular heartbeat, and delirium or hallucinations. So, I'm just saying, next time you see a pretty girl, take heed. And remember, there is more to beauty than meets the ****ing eye.
Periel Aschenbrand
Tasha wears cosmetics by Rimmel London. * Fragrance: Eternity Summer by Calvin Klein.