It would be nice to say that models outshine us mere mortals due to retouching and professionally done makeup and hair, but sometimes they really are just…beautiful. Photographer Scott Trindle shot a handful of supermodels in the raw for an exhibition for the launch of London’s new Viva Modeling Agency and it must be said: the black and white images are stunning.

“It doesn’t scare me that the images aren’t retouched, it adds another layer of interest and intrigue,” Trindle said in an interview with Vogue UK. “So much can be adapted in post, and so I suppose the main benefit is its purity.”

Trindle snapped the models–who include Raquel Zimmermann, Imogen Newton, Edie Campbell and Natalia Vodianova–over the course of a year and eschewed big studio lighting for the soft interior of his Dalston flat. The images are quietly revealing, giving the viewer a sense of the real girl underneath the supermodel name. The simple, open-faced beauty is something rarely seen in this industry, and comes as a refreshing dose of what makes a model such an icon in the first place.

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