Hot or Not? Braces in Fashion

Pictured: Tim Coppens spring-summer 2016 campaign. Photo: Robi Rodriguez. Creative direction: Nicolas Santos

From Faye Dunaway to Tom Cruise, many famous faces have tried to turn braces into a cool thing -- mostly unsuccessfully. While some of us may be stuck with painful memories of dentist chairs and a jaw locked shut with rubber bands (I know I do), others, such as Belgian designer Tim Coppens, choose to celebrate this somewhat unattractive transition towards a perfect smile.

Coppens revealed his latest spring-summer 2016 campaign, with a very cheerful Remco, a young model from Belgium who's still undergoing a braces treatment. Photographed by Robi Rodriguez and styled by Tom Van Dorpe, Remco flaunts his metallic grin, displaying juvenile charms to the reader.

This isn't the first time braces become a hot high-fashion item: Back in 1988, Japanese brand Comme des Garcons published a double-page ad with two twin girls, both wearing braces. Then, in the late 1990s, many celebrities decided to don braces in public, led by the likes of Gwen Stefani and Tom Cruise, who thought it would be fun to go out with braces, perhaps to erase the Hollywood stigma that people with unperfect teeth still face. Actress Kirsten Dunst even boasted that crooked teeth are "sexy" and never got hers fixed. More recently, Katy Perry turned braces into a goofball gag in her video "Last Friday Night (TGIF)," but somehow made it cute.

Pictured, clockwise from left: Katy Perry in her video "Last Friday Night (TGIF)"; Tom Cruise on the red carpet in 2002; a 1988 Comme des Garcons ad; Gwen Stefani in 1999.

So... Hot or not? Do you think braces are something to hide or show off? Let us know in the comments sections.