By the Skin of My Teeth

Jenna Lyons is a fashion megaforce and a beauty entrepreneur with a big secret: She's spent her whole life trying not to feel like an ugly outsider.

- CATHERINE HONG

As a teenager in Southern California in the '80s, Jenna Lyons felt like the furthest thing from a beach babe. Born with a rare genetic disorder that impaired her hair, skin, and teeth, she endured bullying at school and indifference at home. Today, the former creative director of J.Crew, founder of faux-lashes brand LoveSeen, and least housewife-y Real Housewife of New York City (season 14 premieres this fall) is the picture of easy swagger and cool. But she's the first to admit that she was shaped by the trauma of her early years, when she "never, ever smiled."

I was in third or fourth grade, sitting at a school assembly, when I heard some girls whispering behind me. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but they were snickering and saying stuff like "Bald!" and "Why does she have that spot?" I wasn't even sure they were talking about me, but at home after school, I got a mirror and angled it so I could see the back of my head. I remember my mom had put my hair in pigtails that day. And that's when I saw that I had a massive bald spot right in the back of my head. I burst into tears. I was like, What is going on?

I was diagnosed at 7 months with a rare genetic disorder called incontinentia pigmenti, which affects your skin, teeth, and hair. Some people with IP are missing fingernails. Some people have neurological damage. I have bald spots, scarred and hyperpigmented skin (especially behind my knees and under my arms), and almost no eyebrows or eyelashes. Maybe worst of all are my teeth. Until 10th grade, when I had veneers bonded onto them, I only had about 13 very small, cone-shaped teeth, and huge gaps in the rest of my mouth.