The legend of Erin Wasson

And here’s to you, Mrs. Wasson

A newspaper contest scouted for fresh-faced Texans and plucked an unusually dreamy girl from near-obscurity. 

From our Dallas wonderland, she skyrocketed to international stardom. 

Now married, she speaks with The News for her first profile while envisioning her definition of ‘home’

Erin Wasson at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. [Photo: Steven Visneau.]

By DANIEL KUSNER | Sept. 21, 2018

Irving is a model suburb. 
 
Close to an international airport, it’s easy to imagine dreams taking flight.

Washington Irving’s drowsy imagination ran wild in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” The author inspired the town’s name.


Erin Wasson’s name is synonymous with an effortless stride and incised cheekbones.



Looking into her engaging eyes, you’d swear she flexes her pupils. 
 
Her presence can overwhelm. 

More than 20 years ago, she was a winsome basketball player who slam-dunked a Dallas beauty contest. 



Her face first appeared in the pages of this newspaper. 

DMN TEAR-SHEET.

She went on to launch countless international magazine covers: Elle, Esquire, Bazaar, Allure … 


Her career took off. Like a dream come true. 

This summer, however, she briefly flew back to Dallas — just as Vogue published her bridal diary.

DAUGHTER-DAD: For Wasson’s Texas reception, she chose East Austin’s Saharah Club. [Photo: Vogue.]

The Texas wedding captured Wasson on the happiest of days. 

Along her path down the aisle, she danced, served guests smoked barbecue and snuck a cigarette while draped in Vivienne Westwood.

SMOKED: Like Texas barbecue.

Supermodels are global beings. And Wasson recently celebrated a second wedding along the French Riviera — her husband’s homeland. 

Dreams of settling down inspire her life’s next chapter. 

Like Helen of Troy, she is our Erin of Irving.


If there’s a debate — Texas versus France — some arrows point in the direction where Wasson clings to her last name. 

Call Me By Your Name…

At 6’ 6”, Mark Wasson strikes a Joe DiMaggio-like fatherly figure. Inside an Oak Lawn café, Mark recalls the woman who lured him to Texas. 

More than 40 years ago, Mark first met Chris Roundtree at a wedding reception in eastern Indiana.

Weddings inspire everlasting love, and Chris soon embraced the Wasson name. She worked for Delta Airlines. 

Mark Wasson and two Mrs. Wassons. [Photo: Vogue]

Before adding new Wasson family members, the honeymooners trotted the globe for seven years. Delta placed Chris at D-FW Airport, which enticed the Wassons to Irving — where flight paths continued to expand their perspectives. 

A starry-eyed trip to Ireland inspired their daughters’ names: Meghan and Erin, both natives of Irving. 

Mark frequently flew to destinations across the U.S. while promoting medical innovations. 

So Meghan, slightly older, helped supervise Erin — a one-of-akind creature. 


“I’ve never seen anyone like her,” Mark recalls. 

•••

A vivid memory comes to life. 

In 1996, after an out-of-town business trip, Mark returns to Irving, expecting to greet his all-female squad. 

Instead, he discovers the Wasson Castle had been invaded by 10 teenage boys. All of them are basketballers and competing for his youngest’s attention. 

Erin of Irving. [Photo: Kusner]

Outnumbered and in disbelief, Mark notices some of the enraptured boys “were sitting on Erin’s bed.” 

A notice in The Dallas Morning News also caught Mark’s attention: An announcement for the Fashion!Dallas/Kim Dawson Model Search. The 1997 contest drew more than 1,400 hopefuls.

Erin, then 15, initially dismissed the idea of entering. “Whatever. I’m never going to be a model,” the daughter told Mark. 

••• 

“I traveled so often for work,” Mark recalls wistfully. “I missed out on so much.” 

Like a tiny moment that pivots into an enormous Frank Capra-esque adventure, Mark completes the contest application and sends photos of Erin to The News. 

His odds would tip in the Wassons’ favor. 

••• 

Sitting on a sofa inside the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Erin enjoys an abbreviated trip back home. She’s barely had time to catch her breath — ever since that late-June wedding in East Austin. The one that’s now en vogue.


Wasson and her husband, restaurateur Barth Tassy, live in California. Architectural Digest recently featured their Malibu home. 


Tassy and Wasson reaffirmed their vows in France. 

Last week, his family hosted a second ceremony at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Saint-Tropez. 

••• 

If auras truly exist, Wasson epitomizes the definition of a muse. 

Other guests at The Mansion swing their heads toward Erin and whisper behind her back, “Who is she?"  



She’s hypnotizing. Cinematic.

Her profession is mysterious. From vampires to Victoria’s Secret angels, she constantly transforms herself. 

She’s an ideal employee who can do anything. 

She also has a design-curator’s eye. 

As a tastemaker, her “go big or go home” work ethic can draw the attention of thousands inside one of Fashion Week’s tents. 

Unlike other supermodels — maybe Kate or Naomi — there are no unsavory details to distract from the impossible. 

That burglary had nothing to do with the fabled “Bling Ring” capers. A unlucky person (probably a non-Texan without a home at Christmastime) didn’t get much.
 
Wasson later found her high heels scattered along the streets of Santa Monica. 



The other time the Wasson name was splashed across Page Six was equally boring. 

The ink on her Maybelline contract was barely dry when our Erin was minding her own damn business. 

It was mid-July. Wasson, 23 at the time, was attending a memorably hot street-party while in the company of artist-provocateur David LaChapelle. 

In an embarrassing display of broken-windows policing, a blatantly overzealous New York cop stopped and frisked Wasson. Her hand possessed a canister of thirst-quenching beer that was discreetly wrapped in a brown paper bag. 

She was issued an “open container” fine for the why-even-bother amount of $25.  




But master-surrealist LaChapelle has never bothered to photograph Wasson … yet. 

Not easily swayed by colorful tabloid journalism, the brass over at Maybelline renewed Wasson’s contract for 13 consecutive years. 

••• 

Supermodels bring dreams to life. Maintaining professional longevity is about consistently adapting to visions that inspire wonder. 

Place Wasson beside a product — Rolex, Armani perfume, Lucchese cowboy boots — and she evokes a series of thoughts, images and sensations. Like the ones that occur while sleeping. 

The beholder’s eye implants a vision. Or is it a hallucination? 

••• 

An opportunity in Wasson’s tight Dallas schedule suddenly opens. She extends her visit with this writer. To continue recalling Irving-laced memories, she will ride toward Victory Park in my vehicle. 

Panic sets in. 

Forbes lists Wasson as one of the world’s highest-paid models. The policy in my glovebox only extends to liability coverage. 

As a porter holds open The Mansion’s front doors, reality emerges — mine. The most beautiful face in Texas is standing beside me at the valet stand. At any moment, my crumpled 2008 Honda Fit is about to confront us both.  

I crawl into my backpack, whining with embarrassment. I morph into Woody Allen, a pathetic, babbling neurotic. 

To steer the topic in another direction, Wasson shields her eyes from the blinding afternoon sunlight and says, “Looks like a hot day.” 

For months, two “idiot lights” on my dashboard have been screaming for attention. 

Another titanic wave of anxiety crashes over. 

And the following words involuntarily leap from of my mouth. “It could be worse,” I hear myself. “We could be infants separated from our parents at the Texian border.” 

Wasson’s eyes meet mine. 

Without saying a word, hers whisper, “I was raised by wonderful parents. I’ll make sure the children are safe.” 

Her calm is contagious. 

The world stops shaking as she climbs into my jalopy. 

“Dude, you have still have a CD player? What’s inside the deck?” Wasson asks. 

‘Heaven holds a place for those who pray’ 

The Polyphonic Spree’s optimistic first album reminds Wasson of her career’s inception — right after winning the Kim Dawson Model Search. The Dallas talent agency put Wasson directly to work. 

Newbie models all confront an initial challenge: the startup expenses for building a professional portfolio. 

“It’s the truth,” Wasson affirms, as she re-calibrates her wealth status, circa 1998.  

As if Mary Kay Ash's entrepreneurial spirit glowed over Erin, that initial investment was motivation. She accelerated her graduation day by transferring to the Winfrey Academy charter school. 

That same year, she briefly visited New York … And returned to Dallas. 

Her new stomping grounds became Exposition Park. A busy work schedule made her happy. 

For about two years, Wasson’s career percolated in Dallas’ fashion industry. As a single gal, she kicked up her boots at The DoubleWide, Bar of Soap and Lee Harvey’s. Everyone knows that Erin is fun to work with — especially in New York. 

So in 2000, she moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with … her husband. 

That’s right. 

Let’s back up. 

Just before leaving Dallas, Erin compulsively entered a downtown courthouse with her then-boyfriend, Mack Ryan, and got married. 
“I waited until the next day to tell my mom. She helped soften the blow for Dad,” Erin says, rolling her eyes. 
Maybe the fear of homesickness was too much. While retaining her last name, she descended upon New York as a married Texan. However, after separating from Ryan, the details of their divorce were finalized in 2004.  

••• 

Wasson’s career continued to thrive as she crisscrossed the globe. 

Her own tough, boho style — like her leather pants — became noteworthy. 




Her first jewelry line, Low Luv, included lightweight, Egyptianesque forehead necklaces. 



‘Hide it in a hiding place’

She also designed a functional pendant that holds a lighter combined with a separate compartment for cigarettes — even handrolled. 

••• 

Our time together draws to a close. 

At Victory Park, Wasson accepts my contact information and wishes me luck with my deadline. The night before Wasson leaves American soil to remarry in France a text arrives: “I’ll tell you another time how pleasant it was doing this journey with you when you’re not sleeping.” 

It’s after midnight, and this writer is sleepy. 

With the force of a tsunami, a nightmare turns into a flood. 

Dustin Hoffman is inside a church on top of Reunion Tower. Hoffman screams, “She was married in Texas! She promised to protect the children here. When Wasson’s babies are safely grown and happy, we promise to reunite her to France. Bring her back!” 

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Saint-Tropez.



•••  

At 37, Wasson has already reached fashion’s pinnacle. Yet she remains busy. 

She walked for Oscar de la Renta’s fall-winter 2018 collection and graced the March 2018 cover of Harper's Bazaar Kazakhstan. 

This year, her “mother agency,” Kim Dawson, yielded a campaign for Highland Park Village. The dawn of Wasson’s vocation coincided with the Age of Print. 

Today, Instagram influences the digital market. “Fashion is so youth-obsessed,” she notes. The industry’s landscape is shifting and she says, “Some arrows are pointed toward Texas.” Parenthood inspires Wasson’s future. 

“I know that will be my greatest achievement,” she says quietly. 


The Wasson family home still stands. And almost three stories above it waves a 
Texas-sized American flag, which is in the town of Irving. 

That’s where pioneers, explorers, settlers and survivors dreamed about a wonderland. 

Not a borderland.






TIMELINE suggestions 

Irving: basketball ’n’ barbecue… 

1997, an industry insider glanced at Erin’s image and instinctively found the front-runner… 

Jan 2001: FRENCH VOGUE … WILLIAM RAST: TIMBLERLAKE … ABE LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER…VICTORIA’S SECRET… MAYBELLINE … ARMANI … ROLEX 




WHAT THE HELEN OF TROY? Feminist professor Camille Paglia on “Vamps and Tramps;” essay, “Memories Vintage Books, 1994. 
LIKE TEXAS BARBECUE … SMOKED “HIDE IT IN A HIDING PLACE …” INHALE LIGHTER NECKLACE “A chain and two friends,” lighter and joint holder with sliced diamond on a 32- inch chain…. — wearwasson.com YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE…. 

At her June wedding reception in Austin, Vogue captured Wasson’s place settings. ( Be cool to the happy bride. Don’t mess with her BIC lighter.) 
 Coahuila: a state in northern Mexico, on the US border; capital, Saltillo.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio Our nation turns its lonely eyes Wu wu wu What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson Jolting Joe has left and gone Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey 

Maybelline Model Fined
Maybelline model Erin Wasson had to pay a $25 fine recently for holding beer in the street of NYC, reports the New York Post. The police handed her a fine, after spotting that she had a can of beer in a brown paper bag. "They pulled her aside, took her ID and frisked her. The cop came out of nowhere," a witness said. Erin was partying with fashion photographer David LaChapelle and claimed that it was a misunderstanding. Her representative said that she got the beer for a friend. 
NEW YORK POST: July 11 2005 Friends in high places: ^^ David LaChapelle 


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