It's a crisp winter morning in New York City, and Georgia May Jagger is slithering into a red vintage Ossie Clark frock in the bathroom of a West Village townhouse, the scene of her Teen Vogue photo shoot, explaining why it's her lucky dress. "When I wear this to my boyfriend's gigs in L.A., I always get in," she says, giggling mischievously. After seeing the perpled stares of everyone on set, she adds, "I usually don't, being underage." With her bed-head hair, pouty lips, and come-hither curves, it's easy to forget that Ms. Jagger is not yet legal. The nineteen-year-old face of Chanel and Hudson Jeans oozes a kind of sex appeal that's garnered comparisons to the original blonde bombshell, Brigitte Bardot. But appearances aside, Georgia is actually a refreshingly down-to-earth teenager. She relocated from London to Manhattan last fall to enroll in an art program at the School of Visual Arts. She lives in an East Village walk-up with her big sister Lizzy. And her downtime activity of choice, when she isn't juggling school and modeling gigs, is cooking classic English fare, like shepherd's pie. Apparently, she draws a good crowd. "My brother's whole band has been staying with me and Lizzy," she explains, "so we have to make two packets of bacon and a box of pancakes every morning!"
Normalcy, of course, is all relative—particularly when your mother is seventies supermodel and former Studio 54 mainstay Jerry Hall and your father is the most famous living rock star on the planet, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger. Georgia's aforementioned boyfriend is Django James, the son of Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. "We met when we were kids in England," she says, brushing off any similarities to the model-musician union by which she was created. "You don't date someone because they're an accountant," she deadpans, matter-of-factly. Her childhood was, at once, vastly different from most (she toured with the Stones, hung out with other rock progeny, and broke into modeling at fifteen with a Uniqlo campaign), and, at the same time, fairly run-of-the-mill. She wore a uniform to school, lived in jeans and trainers on weekends, and claims she went through an awkward phase. "I think every girl does," she shrugs. "It's weird—as you get older, you become more and more comfortable with yourself. But I'm lucky," she adds. "My mom raised me not to give a crap, even in her position. I really never thought about the way I looked until boys came into the picture. Then it starts to be like, Am I wearing the right outfit? I have to do my makeup for school!"
Although shorter and curvier than model standards, Georgia's differences and imperfections are what's made her stand out in the fashion world, landing her major-league campaigns with the likes of Versace and Rimmel and magazine covers like British Vogue. One of her most distinguishing—and charming— features is, in fact, her gap teeth. Nevertheless, Georgia insists modeling was never in the cards for her. "I used to tell my mom and Lizzy, 'I'm not going to be a model like you guys!' They make fun of me about it now," she laughs. But despite falling into the family business (she's the third Jagger offspring to be a model), Georgia has kept a pretty good head on her shoulders. "I never really had anything to rebel against," she says. "I think when your parents are as rebellious as mine were, it's difficult to top them. So what's the point?" Instead, she made the mature decision to model only part-time so she could stay in school. "I've seen girls who drop out when their careers pick up," she says. "I didn't want to miss out on my education to model. I can't do just modeling."
As far as extracurriculars go, however, her role as mannequin is proving to be good research for her latest two endeavors: a fine arts degree in photography ("something I can imagine myself doing as a career," she says) and a capsule collection of jeans she designed in collaboration with Hudson Jeans. Georgia's relationship with the denim company started two years ago when she was hired to be the face of the brand. "I was always interested in helping with styling on the shoots," she says. "So when they approached me, I was extremely excited. It's nice to be doing something you actually believe in." She undertook the challenge as someone who herself couldn't quite find that perfect jean. "They can make me feel a bit frumpy," she says. "So I wanted to design my dream jeans. I brought in my personal archives as reference: seventies Wranglers, a pair of Lizzy's old shorts, some of my mom's vintage pants, anything that had a detail I liked. I wanted them to be comfortable, first and foremost. I always see those jeans with the stretchy front on pregnant women, and they look like the dreamiest thing ever," she laughs. "Secondly, I wanted a jean that made me look taller and skinnier, which I think most people would agree is a good thing. My problem is that I always find jeans that are either high-waisted or low-rise, but nothing in between, like they used to be in the eighties and early nineties. That's actually the most flattering cut." Finally, there was the matter of washes. "No whiskering!" Georgia shudders. "We did plain black, plain gray—I was like, 'Look, no one wants to wear a**-crack distressed jeans.'"
When it comes to fashion, Georgia's pretty much seen it all. Her games of childhood dress-up involved mom's haute couture and dad's glam-rock stage costumes—a wardrobe jackpot if there ever was one. Much of Hall's original archives were auctioned off for charity in 2008, but Georgia did manage to secure a few prime hand-me-downs: "She gave me these amazing seventies sequined hot pants from Paris, and some old Fabrice and [Thierry] Mugler," she says. Pulling one such get, a leopard-print Mugler dress, out of a bag, Georgia says, laughing, "I was watching this rerun of Ugly Betty the other week, and one of the characters was wearing this dress. I was like, Wait a minute! My mother wore that in 1982!"
Unfortunately, she was a little late to the game when it came to her dad's closet castoffs (she has six siblings and half-siblings in total, and is the youngest girl of four—the next up, Lizzy, being seven years her senior). "Lizzy definitely beat me to it," she says. "She got there before I even knew what clothes were. But it's fine. She's nice about sharing." Georgia fills in the gaps in her wardrobe with vintage finds (from Screaming Mimi's in New York City, the Fairfax Flea Market in Los Angeles, and Portobello and Camden markets in London), inexpensive pieces from Topshop and Zara, and a few designer bits. She cites Vivienne Westwood as her all-time favorite, but Alexander Wang seems to come in a close second. "I'd love to meet him," she says. "I'd be like, Alex! I've spent a small fortune over the Internet from England buying your clothes.'"
As to the million-dollar question of whether she might carry on the Jagger legacy of rock 'n' roll, "I would never," she says. "I'm very interested in music, but I was not born musical. I honestly do think some people have the knack. I can't play an instrument. I'm a terrible singer. I'm not about to launch my album!" she insists. "But I love hearing music and going to concerts. My brother's band, Turbogeist, is really good, and I'm a huge fan of my boyfriend's band, Nightmare & The Cat." Ah, yes, the rocker boyfriend. Her mother's daughter, indeed.
