Kate Moss

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 notorious for her high-profile relationships and party lifestyle. She has appeared on over 300 magazine covers.

Early life

Moss was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, South London, England to Linda Rosina (Shepherd), a boutique manager, and Peter Edward Moss, an airline clerk. Kate has a younger brother called Nick and a half sister and brother . Moss' parents divorced when she was 13. 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.

In July 2007, earning an estimated total of $9 million in the past 12 months, Forbes magazine named her second on the list of the World's 15 top-earning supermodels.
Moss during her waif period
Moss during her waif period

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 United States President Bill 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, ballet flats, Marc Jacobs ankle boots, Vivienne Westwood Pirate Boots, skinny jeans, the waistcoat, Alexander McQueen's skull scarf, Louis Vuitton's Sprouse Leopard Cashmere Scarf (which sold out in Europe), YSL's 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, Roberto Cavalli, Chanel, Missoni, Longchamp, David Yurman, Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Burberry, Rimmel, and Bvlgari, including a campaign for the successfull Brazilian label ELLUS during summer 2000. 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 British Vogue alone 24 times[14] (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 TV ad featuring a leather-clad Kate Moss riding a motorbike through London to the sound of Rock music.

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.
On September 27, 2007, The Sun published a story entitled, "Kate Moss dumped by seven brands", describing her "cocaine honeymoon" as fading away. The story continues by stating that last autumn 2006 she had eighteen contracts in comparison to 2007's eleven. And this time last year, fashion bible Vogue had six campaigns using Moss including Dior, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. November 2007's issue has none. The story concludes by saying that an industry source has said "She is still very big but the honeymoon period has ended.

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 range was mildly criticized by fashion advisors Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine who argued that the clothing was modelled for only the slimmest of women, and that they were not suitable for an average woman's figure. They stated "No one has a figure like hers so her clothes only really look good on her — not real women."The TopShop range was later released in America at the New York chain store Barneys where 26 designs from the range were on sale.
Alan McGee, Kate Moss, and BP Fallon DJing at Death Disco NY in 2004
Alan McGee, Kate Moss, and BP Fallon DJing at Death Disco NY in 2004

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?". Prior to Kate's break-up with Doherty, she co-wrote four songs from Babyshambles' second album Shotter's Nation - "You Talk", "French Dog Blues", "Baddie's Boogie" & "Deft Left Hand".

Moss has also DJ'd on more than one occasion at the Death Disco club with her friends Alan McGee and BP Fallon.

Moss is also known for her close friendships with many rock and roll icons and musicians such as 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 also supported War Child. Moss also designed a charm in a necklace for Wallis in 2007 in aid of Cancer Research UK and said "I am happy to give my support to help fund crucial research, as so many lives are affected by this terrible disease".

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.