Lily-Rose Depp Poses Topless for a Photo Shoot Inspired by Her Mom, Vanessa Paradis

Lily-Rose Depp isn’t quite like most teenagers. The 18-year-old daughter of Johnny Depp and French star Vanessa Paradis doesn’t have any social media beside Instagram, and has already worked more than most models dream of working—she’s a favorite of Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld.

Now, Depp has teamed up with photographer Luke Gilford for a portfolio of images designed not to get you to buy a shiny new product, but instead to inspire you to think. In them, she’s raw and vulnerable, shedding a tear in front of a window and lying in bed with a look that says, “what do you want?”

The inspiration for many, of course, was her mom plus the concept of connection. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of intimacy. It’s an important element in my work and a feeling I often try to convey in my films and photographs. I believe intimacy is developed the same way as a relationship—through mutual trust and respect, and over time,” Gilford said of his inspiration. “True intimacy cannot be forced and it’s not a one way street. It is powerful because it takes a real connection to exist, and real connections take work, patience, and love.”

Depp’s topless photos, in which she’s wearing a blunt brown wig with cutoffs, while smoking a cigarette, are intimate indeed.

“We shared references over the course of weeks, many of them of her mother—obviously a very personal process for Lily. We went and bought a wig inspired by a shoot her mother had done decades before, and spent a couple days hanging out and taking photos together at home,” he added.

“It was just the two of us and our friend Walker, no crew whatsoever. The images of her in bed and crying especially move me because they are so honest. This experience was so inspiring because it reminded me how rewarding it is to collaborate with friends, and how meaningful it is to create authentic trust and intimacy.”