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Katherine Ann Moss (born January 16,
1974), known as Kate Moss, is an iconic English
supermodel and fashion designer. She is known for her
waifish figure and many advertising campaigns and is
also recognised for her high-profile relationships and
party lifestyle. She has appeared on over 300 magazine
covers.
Early life: Moss was born in Addiscombe, Croydon,
England. She attended Ridgeway Primary School, then
Riddlesdown High School. She was not noted for her
academic success, although she did excel at sports.
According to Vermorel's book Addicted to Love: Kate
Moss, she received one C (in Science) and Ds, Es, and Us
in all others at GCSE level.
Career: She was discovered at the age of 14 by
Sarah Doukas (the founder of Storm Model Management) in
1988, at JFK Airport in New York City, after a vacation
in the Bahamas. Moss's career began when Corinne Day
shot black and white photographs of her for British
magazine The Face when she was 15, in a photo shoot
titled "The Third Summer of Love". Moss then
went on to become the anti-supermodel of the 1990s in
contrast to the supermodels at the time, such as Cindy
Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell, who were
known for their curvaceous and tall figures through out
the 90's.
Moss was voted 8th in Celebrity Sleuths 25 Sexiest Women
of 2004, 8th in Maxims 50 Sexiest Women of 1999 and 22nd
in FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 1995. Mens magazine Arena
named her as their Sexiest Woman in their 150th issue.
In March 2007, Moss won the Sexiest Woman NME Award. She
made her first appearance in the British women's Sunday
Times Rich List in 2007, where she was estimated to be
worth £45 million. She ranked as the 99th richest woman
in Britain.
Style: She ushered in the waif look in 1993
(which prompted much speculation over her weight) with a
highly publicised campaign for Calvin Klein, including
posing nude in ads for its perfume brand, Obsession. Her
depiction in photographs also drew criticism from
President Clinton who spoke out against the growing
heroin chic trend. Moss charmed the fashion industry
despite being unusually short for a runway model, and
has worked for many elite fashion lines. Now in her 30s,
Moss is still working and has become a supermodel in her
own right. In 2005, she came #2 on The Biggest Comeback
Stars List – she lost to pop singer Mariah Carey.
In addition to being known for her modeling work, Kate
Moss is also an international fashion icon. She has
garnered many awards for her style including the Council
of Fashion Designers of America's fashion influence
award and a place on the Vanity Fair's international
best-dressed list. She even appeared on the cover of
Vanity Fair's September 2006 style issue. In the year of
2005~ 2006, her style was influenced by Rock and Roll.
Due to her reputation, she is credited
for setting numerous trends. In recent years she has
popularised denim cutoff shorts, Ugg boots, Repetto
ballet flats, Marc Jacobs ankle boots, Vivienne Westwood
Pirate Boots, Superfine skinny jeans, the waistcoat,
Alexander McQueen skull scarf, Louis Vuitton Sprouse
Leopard Cashmere Scarf (which were sold out in Europe),
YSL Muse bag and the Balenciaga handbag, as well as
bringing waist-cinching belts back into popularity.
Campaigns: Moss has had campaigns with major
Italian, French, American, and British designers
including Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton,
Versace, Chanel, Missoni, Longchamp, David Yurman, Dior,
Yves Saint-Laurent, Burberry, Rimmel, and Bvlgari. She
has been featured in fashion spreads in most major
fashion magazines including UK, US, and French Vogue
magazines (as well as other international versions of
Vogue), Another Man, Vanity Fair, the Face, and W. Moss
has appeared on the cover of Brtitish Vogue alone 24
times (in addition to dozens of other international
Vogue covers) and has been featured on the cover of 17
issues of W, including one issue with nine different
covers featuring the model. W even names Moss its muse
(September 2003 issue).
She has worked with the most well-known
photographers in the fashion industry today, such as
Mario Testino, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Klein, and Juergen
Teller, and is a Peter L "trained" model. She
won the prestigious Vogue/CFDA award from the Fashion
Designers of America in July 2005 as Fashion
Inspiration. The haute couture dress she wore to the
award ceremony was from the Christian Dior fall 2005
haute couture designed by John Galliano.
April 2005 saw the launch of the Rimmel London mascara
ad featuring a leather-clad Kate Moss riding a motorbike
through London.
As of April 2006, camera company Nikon have also signed
her to be the face of their new Coolpix S6 digital
camera; the photoshoot features Moss posing in a state
of undress, with nothing but the camera.
Twelve months after her cocaine scandal Moss made a
comeback by bagging 18 top modeling contracts for the
Autumn/Winter 2006 season which include: Rimmel, Agent
Provocateur, Virgin Mobile, Belstaff, Beymen, Dior,
Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Longchamp, Stella
McCartney, Bulgari, Chanel, Nikon, David Yurman,
Versace, Mia Shvili, Calvin Klein Jeans and Burberry.
Moss has also agreed to make her first
foray into the design world by designing a collection,
in collaboration with Katy England, for Topshop, while
it has also been announced that Moss will launch a
fragrance and body lotion range bearing her name in
association with Coty in 2007.
According to Forbes.com Moss is earning more money than
before her cocaine scandal. Her 2004-2005 earnings were
$5 million and her 2005-2006 earnings were $8 million.
She is currently the second highest paid model in the
world behind Gisele Bündchen.
In November 2006, Moss won the Model of the Year prize
at the British Fashion Awards, the top accolade in
British fashion, but the award has divided opinion and
stirred fresh controversy.
Fashion designer: On May 1, 2007 a collection of
clothes, designed by Moss exclusively for the Topshop
chain, were launched across the UK in the chain's 225
stores. A Kate Moss "countdown to launch"
board filled a window of the company's flagship Oxford
Street store and on April 30, Moss launched the clothing
line at Topshop in Oxford Street, where she briefly
appeared in the shop window modelling a red dress from
the clothing collection just before the shop was opened,
causing a media frenzy.
Topshop has reportedly paid Moss £3
million for her work. The collection of fifty designs
includes clothes, bags, shoes and belts where prices
range from £12 for a vest top to £150 for a cropped
leather jacket. Clothes in the collection include skinny
jeans, one-shoulder mini dresses and t-shirts with the
letter K woven in to the design.
However shoppers are limited to five items each to
prevent the clothes appearing on eBay and are only
allowed to try on eight garments in the shop. Despite
these efforts, the day after the launch saw hundreds of
items up for sale on eBay. Although bulk buying is
restricted the collection is not a limited edition and
the range will remain in stores for an indefinite period
The collection received mixed reviews from the fashion
press. British fashion critics lauded the range, however
the New York Post hailed it "Duplikate", based
on the strong similarities between Moss's own wardrobe.
The TopShop range was later released in America at the
New York chain store Barneys where 26 designs from the
range were on sale.
In the music industry: Moss has appeared in music
videos such as "Kowalski" by Primal Scream,
"I Just Don't Know What to do with Myself" by
the White Stripes, "Something About The Way You
Look Tonight" by Elton John, "Sex with
strangers" by Marianne Faithfull and "Delia's
Gone" and "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by
Johnny Cash.
She also provided vocals for songs by
Primal Scream (the 2003 version of "Some Velvet
Morning") and Babyshambles. Her vocals are featured
on the Babyshambles' "La Belle et la Bête",
singing the lines "Is she more beautiful than
me?".
Moss has also DJ'd on more than one occasion at the
Death Disco club with her friends Alan McGee and BP
Fallon.
It has been reported that Moss has co-written lyrics
with Pete Doherty that will be included on Babyshambles
second album when it is released by Parlophone in late
2007.
Moss is also known for her close friendships with many
rock and roll icons and musicians such as Beth Ditto,
Elton John, Mick Jones, Anita Pallenberg, Marianne
Faithfull and Bobby Gillespie.
Charity work: Moss has been a supporter of the
Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity, and in the 1990s
featured in one of their target t-shirt campaigns.
She has also helped to launch the SamandRuby charity in
March 2006. The charity was started to provide funding
for the education and shelter of Thai children. The
SamandRuby organisation is named after a friend of
Moss's Samantha Archer Fayet and her 6 month old
daughter Ruby Rose who were killed by the Tsunami while
visiting Thailand. Moss also supports Homes of Hope
along with her close friend Sadie Frost.
On 22 November 2006, Moss recorded an appearance in a
Little Britain sketch for Comic Relief at the
Hammersmith Apollo as a character called Katie Pollard,
sister of Vicky Pollard played by Matt Lucas.
Personal life: After previously having long-term
relationships such as those with Mario Sorrenti and
Johnny Depp, Moss had a daughter, Lila Grace, born on 29
September 2002, with Dazed & Confused editor
Jefferson Hack. She is also godmother to the two sons of
The Clash member Paul Simonon and to the daughter of
Sadie Frost and Jude Law.
Kate Moss has long been linked romantically with former
Libertines member Pete Doherty. On April 11, 2007 Pete
Doherty announced Moss as his fiancée during one of his
concerts in London, at which Moss also performed.
Doherty planned to marry Moss during the summer 2007.
However, in July 2007 Moss and Doherty broke up. A
removal van arrived to take away Doherty's possessions
out of Moss's home after they had a series of rows and
arguments.
Doherty is reported to have said
"It's like living with a fucking stalker."
Moss has also changed the locks to the gates allowing
access into her house. She was due to model on the
catwalk for John Galliano with Linda Evangelista, Naomi
Campbell, Lily Cole and Gisele Bundchen but is too
distraught with her break-up to participate.
Moss currently lives with her daughter Lila-Grace in St
John's Wood, London.
Controversies: One of the first controversies
about Kate Moss was surrounding her weight, to which she
replied "It was just the time. It was a swing from
more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford and people were
shocked to see what they called a 'waif'. What can you
say? How many times can you say 'I'm not
anorexic'?"
Moss checked herself into a psychiatric centre in 1998,
claiming she was suffering from "exhaustion."
She later admitted she'd been drinking and getting high
before getting on the catwalk, but denied ever indulging
in harder substances. Dismissing rumours that her stay
was for substance abuse, sources have revealed that she
was suffering from depression over her separation from
longtime boyfriend, actor Johnny Depp.
The British tabloids and paparazzi often target Kate
Moss. UK tabloid the Sunday Mirror was sued successfully
by Moss for claiming that she had slipped into a coma
after taking large amounts of cocaine in Spain years
earlier.
Cocaine scandal: British tabloids, particularly
the Daily Mirror, have long claimed that Moss habitually
used cocaine. In interviews Moss dismissed these claims
as ridiculous.
On 15 September 2005, London's Daily Mirror ran front
page and inside photos that seemed to show Moss snorting
several lines of cocaine at a Babyshambles recording
session. Most tabloids have reported that Moss used a £5
note to snort five lines in 40 minutes. It has been
alleged by Babyshambles' singer Pete Doherty that James
Mullord, his former manager, sold the photos to the
newspaper for more than £150,000.
Within a short time of publication, Moss lost major
modeling contracts with several international companies.
On 20 September 2005, the Swedish fashion retailer
H&M, which intended to feature her in a campaign of
their autumn clothes range designed by Moss's good
friend Stella McCartney, announced instead that it was
dropping Moss after the drug allegations. The contract
was reportedly worth £4 million a year.
A day later, Chanel announced that it would not be
renewing its contract with Moss, which was set to expire
in that October, although the company said that its
decision had nothing to do with the drug scandal.
Burberry also decided to drop Moss's campaign with them.
Moss quickly issued an apology though she stopped short
of admitting drug use. "I take full responsibility
for my actions. I also accept that there are various
personal issues that I need to address and have started
taking the difficult, yet necessary, steps to resolve
them," she said. "I want to apologize to all
of the people I have let down because of my behaviour
which has reflected badly on my family, friends,
co-workers, business associates and others."
Moss continued to appear in major ad campaigns during
this period for Dior. She was on the cover of the
November 2005 W and also appeared inside in a multi-page
fashion shoot. She was also defended by friends and
supporters, including models Naomi Campbell and Helena
Christensen, French actress Catherine Deneuve, her
ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp, and designer Alexander
McQueen. McQueen's defense was especially notable and
during his walk out after a fashion show he wore a
t-shirt saying "We love you Kate".
Artist Stella Vine also supported her,
and paintings of Moss by Vine in this incident were
exhibited and reproduced in the press. Pop singer Robbie
Williams said of Moss's relationship with Doherty,
"I can understand why Kate finds it difficult to
leave Pete, he has a certain charisma surrounding
him."
Also in November 2005, Moss ended her relationship with
Doherty soon after he checked himself out of Meadows
Clinic in Arizona, failing to complete a programme for
drug rehabilitation. Moss herself underwent successful
treatment there in October and had urged Doherty to seek
the same treatment himself. Doherty claims that their
separation involved other issues, telling the The Sun
newspaper that Moss left him because, “I can’t buy
her diamonds and my dick is too small.”
On 5 January 2006, the Metropolitan Police asked Moss to
return from the US to Britain to answer questions about
the September 2005 cocaine scandal. The following day,
the Daily Mirror reported that Moss would return to
Britain and face arrest about allegations of cocaine
usage. She was interviewed by police in London on 31
January 2006, with her solicitor present, but reportedly
made no admissions, and she was not arrested
(photographs of alleged drug-taking are not admissible
evidence in British courts).
On 16 June 2006, British police finally
dropped the charges for lack of evidence. Ultimately
Moss was cleared of all charges, and resumed her
modeling career. Criticism of Moss has however continued
and her career revival has been viewed as a sign of
moral and cultural decline by conservatives such as
Peter Hitchens. |
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