Today, the Museum of Modern Art debuts “Björk,” an innovative look back at the musician’s more-than-20-year career, featuring interactive audio exhibitions that appropriately mirror Björk’s avant-garde essence. The three-floor retrospective showcases unique riffs on albums like Biophilia, Debut, and the newly released Vulnicura supplemented by a spoken narrative and memorable visuals and costumes.
Aside from a definitively separate take on the arts—she is often credited with introducing electronica to the pop music scene with her first solo album, Debut, in 1993, and her role as Selma in **Lars von Trier’**s Dancer in the Dark is as haunting as the musical numbers that invade the plotline—Björk has defined her pop culture presence with a collective of experimental beauty looks that stir up conversation.
She arrived on the scene in the late eighties with The Sugarcubes, an alternative rock group that provided an ideal venue for the singer’s playful pigtails and tousled, piece-y chop. After going her own way, she began to embrace the funky and futuristic style of the times, expressed by looped braids and all-over crowns of Bantu knots. It certainly helps that her icy blue eyes and raven hair serve as an ideal backdrop for a pop of color, best demonstrated by the cover of Post, her third studio album. And who can forget Björk’s red-carpet walk at the 73rd Academy Awards—a subtle smile showcasing rose-tinted lips and cheeks, a swan neck coiled around her own. With time and age, her looks only grow bolder. For 2011’s Biophilia cover, she donned an exaggerated cloud of neon orange curls accompanied by a celestial shade of cobalt eye shadow. Here, a look back at Björk’s nine best beauty moments.
