Lauren Hutton Reveals How She Hid Her Gap Tooth on Her Early Vogue Covers: 'Mortician's Wax'

One of Lauren Hutton’s most recognizable features is noticeably absent from a few of her early Vogue covers … and the supermodel got creative to cover it up.

Before fronting the fashion magazine's September 1970 and January 1975 issues, Hutton stuck mortician’s wax in between her two front teeth to alter her smile.

“I had already invented a little piece of very soft wax. It was called mortician’s wax, and I could make a little bead out of that and stick it between my two front teeth and then take a butter knife and make a line,” Hutton, now 77, told Vogue in a recent interview published on Tuesday.

Although she "certainly agreed with the boss that yes, I would do whatever necessary," the supermodel admitted, "I kind thought that I would make it somehow [without doing that]."

"I certainly didn’t want to do anything like that,” Hutton said of getting plastic surgery, "but I also wanted to see the world. I was making $50 a week working with Christian Dior as a house model at the time, but I sure wanted to become a photography model because I knew that those girls were making a dollar a minute back then, which was a huge amount of money."

She continued: "I had a burning desire because it was the only way I could see that I could make my dreams come true to go off some place for two months."

Hutton never did go under the knife — instead, she made the gap tooth her signature look and went on to front a record 40 Vogue covers, including 27 American issues, with it intact.

Speaking with PEOPLE about cosmetic procedures earlier this year, the supermodel said, "Do anything you want but be careful. There are people I’ve known for a long time in L.A. and it’s hard to look at them."

"I’ve let go that I look like a miniature Shar-Pei," she shared with a smile. "The wrinkles are going to be there and they really are the badges of your life."

"I tried Botox once and I jumped back when I saw myself because I had an eyebrow that looked like the Wicked Witch," Hutton added. "Go figure. I took collagen a few times. I had a movie where I had to look like I was 23 and I was thirtysomething."