What would Kate Moss do?

Kate dancing to Bowie in her bedroom, by Nikolai von Bismarck

Advice on love, life and fashion from the iconic model, from British Vogue, December 2017.

How do you get ready in five minutes? 
Brush my teeth, brush my hair, curl my eyelashes, put a lip on and a spritz of scent. 

Block heels or spikes? 
If there was a gun to my head, spikes. 

What do you do if someone's late? 
It's unusual for someone to be later than me... except Naomi. 

What book should I read over the holidays? 
Full Service by Scotty Bowers. 

Do you share your wardrobe with your daughter? 
I'm saving a lot of my clothes for her. She said she would actually cry if she doesn't fit my shoes. 

How do you avoid the bores at a party? 
I don't gravitate to bores, and they don't gravitate to me. 

What should I wear with my LBD this season? 
Bondage boots. 

What's the best way to get the dancing started?
 Never Too Much" by Luther Vandross. 

How should I keep my cool when meeting a celebrity? 
Never ask for a selfie. 

What's a brilliant hangover cure? 
Oysters and a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc. 

How do you make the perfect cheese on toast? 
White toast, cheese thinly sliced on top, salt, pepper and a dash of Worcester sauce or Tabasco. 

How do I stay friends with my ex? 
You don't always want to stay friends with an ex. 

How do I let them down gently? 
Change the locks and block their number. 

Is it OK to sleep with someone on the first date? 
I believe in love at first sight. 

What would you do if you had E1 million and one day to spend it? 
Half to charity, then hit Bond Street with friends.

Kate Moss for Equipment SS2016

Kate's been a little quiet lately, but has roared back onto the scene with a campaign for Alberta Feretti Fall 2016, posing with daughter Lila Grace on the cover of Vogue Italia and a fabulous new collection for Equipment. 

Alberta Ferretti F/W 2016/17 by Luigi & Iango

Kate and Lila Grace by Mario Testino for Vogue Italia June 2016

Of her latest daily 'work look' of black skinny jeans, black cargo jacket over her shoulders, a black top, black boots, a black handbag and black sunglasses. “I can’t be bothered to get a look together,” she says of her daywear now. “But at night, I love dressing up. I go all out.” She may be dismissive of her day-to-day style but, for most of us, ‘unbothered’ Kate represents the pinnacle of wardrobe goals. Which is why the idea of a new fashion collaboration, with another bastion of cool, French contemporary label Equipment, comprising some of Moss’ favorite prints – lightning bolts, stars, leopard – has us itching to own it. “It’s just the kind of things I would wear,” explains Moss. Her husband Jamie Hince was a fan of the range and Kate used to steal his silk shirts. "It's the way that I like to dress. You know when you just throw on a silk shirt and feel good in it. It’s kind of that tomboy but sexy dressing I feel comfortable in for the day.” Net-a-Porter 

The Edit, Pret-a-Porter

"The Equipment people brought the shirts, and I reshaped them a bit and talked about the prints and how the pockets should be. I like having a part in designing something. Clothes are my thing. I like to talk about them, touch the fabric, see what feels right. I wanted the lightning bolt print—very Bowie—and the stars and the anchors." Vogue.com

Kate Moss, Susie Cave and Ella Richards by Daria Werbowy for Equipment

There's a pop-up store of the collection The temporary store is located at 62 Blandford Street in London and will be open between June 2nd - June 9th. Sales by day one were widely reported as being slow, but given the price point is quite high, I imagine this could be a reason. 

Equipment Pop Up store

"I'm not pretending that I'm going to put a show on or something - this was a capsule collection that we threw together." But, with the world around her defining her style on a daily basis, how would Moss best sum it up herself? "Going from grungy to tomboy to really," she said. "I like being dressed up and glamourous as well though - I like doing through the ages. But there isn't really any no for me! I can see big Fifties dresses, and I'm like, 'I really wanna wear that!' Like a Grace Kelly pale blue dress, ahh! But then I'd fuck it up with eyeliner and all that. It always has to be a bit modern for me." Vogue.com

The accompanying video by Daria Werbowy starring Kate and her friend, model Susie Cave (nee Bick, now wife of Nick Cave) is Kate Moss fabulousness. Shot in her Costwalds bolt-hole with a soundtrack of T-Rex is pure 70's decadence. "I grew up with Susie when I was first working. I kind of get shy when she’s around—she’s so feminine, all woman! I met her getting on a flight to New York. I’d be in trainers and cut-up skirts, and she’d always be head to toe in perfect Alaïa. I’m a bit more messy" Vogue.com

KATE MOSS X EQUIPMENT from EQUIPMENT on Vimeo.

"That’s my room in the country where I’ve had so many parties, birthdays, and gigs. I love that decadent feeling. Everyone should have a room with a stage, a mic, and a drum kit, don’t you think?"Vogue.com. Shop the full collection here.

Equipment Instagram

Fashion Uniforms 2016

Kate Moss working V-Neck Tee & Jeans

Over the last 12 months I've heard a lot about a "fashion uniform". Now this style of dressing is in vogue. More than just a signature pair of shades, bag or coat, your fashion uniform is more a range of basics and styles you pretty much revolve your whole wardrobe around. I always knew I stuck to my fave palette and key looks, but I realize I have totally been working uniform for quite structured years! With 2 toddlers and abandoning my work wear as a stay at home mum, my wardrobe has shrunk beyond recognition. However it is still filled with all the same styles I have worn for the last 20 years - a sea of denim & jeans, fitted V-neck tees, V-neck jumpers, plaid shirts, pencil skirts, leather jacket with a dose of black lace. At work it was all shift dresses, straight leg black pants, black pencil skirts worn with fitted shirts or tees and a blazer or jacket. My wardrobe palette is a sea of black, grey, white and taupe, a healthy dose of leopard print and a dash of metallics and pink. I can count on one hand the times I've worn yellow or orange. Shoes are much the same. All heels were 2-4 inches pre-babies. Shoes are now almost all boots. The only flats I own are Havaianas, Chucks or beachy strappy sandals. And my beloved taupe or grey ugg boots (which never set foot outside!).

Fashion Uniform by louloublue featuring high rise skinny jeans

I love Kate Moss'es style, which echoes styles I like. Jeans, fitted shirts, tees, cashmere jumpers, pussy bows. A bit of 90's plus that rock chick edge. Her latest 'work outfit' is "skinny black jeans, black cargo jacket over her shoulders, a black top, a black handbag and black sunglasses."'I can't be bothered to get a look together" she says of her daywear now but at night I love dressing up. I go all out" Kate may be dismissive of her day-to-day style, but for most of us, 'unbothered' Kate represents the pinnacle oo goals." Net-A-Porter. For someone who is passionate about fashion and design, I always thought maybe it was wrong or strange that my wardrobe was so limited, but now I can see that you can still be into fashion and not have to wear or try every style & colour du-jour that comes though each season. Occasionally I've bought some on-trend fast fashion item that really has not suited me and I've not felt great in it, a waste of money that has ended up in a heap at the back of the wardrobe. 

Karen Elsopn as Grace Coddington

Susannah Frankel, editor-in-chief of Another Magazine is known for her chic black uniform style. "Is it boring to have a uniform?" Frankel laughs. "Maybe, but some very chic people do. Karl Lagerfeld's black jackets and white high-collared shirts, Miuccia Prada's cardigans, Rei Kawakubo's dhoti pants, Azzedine Alaia's black pyjamas... I think that's pretty good company!" The Telegraph 

Jean Seberg

Look at Carine Roitfeld's black tailored rock chick look. Victoria Beckham's pencil skirts and tailored coats and shirts. Alexa Chung's Bretons and ballet flats, Diane Von Furstenberg's wrap dress, Grace Coddington all in black. And so many historical stars like Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Seberg, Edie Sedgewick whose uniform styles have been etched into fashion inspiration and history. Interesting that 3 of these women are French, a nationality renowned for their fashion savvy and chic.

Carine Roitfeld

Carine Roitfeld is one of my faves. "Most people think I’m very 'night’ in the way I dress, but for me it’s my uniform for working, and it’s also what I wear for going on a plane, for going to dinner – I will not change so much... I’m always wearing the same. Even if elements are different, it’s always the same silhouette. I travel a lot, so if I have the same base I make it easy for myself... I wear black because I like it, but also because it’s easier."  says Carine Roitfeld. Read more here. 

Kate Hudson in flip flops, jeans & plaid Rails shirt

While my fashion uniform was inadvertent, I was reading a recent ELLE and came across an article about decoding your wardrobe - where different people wrote about their relationship with clothes -and came across a tale by Hannah Swerling about how she consciously came to dress in her own uniform. "My fashion whims were as changeable as my music taste - you could find me in oversized Maharishi pants while nodding to Dr Dre one day, or swaying to the Backstreet Boys dressed in pedal pushers and a 'nice top' the next...Through a process of trial and error, I started to make sense of what to wear...Yes, my palette is the stuff of Iris Apfel's nightmares - black, white, navy, grey and khaki. The uniform I created for myself is functional, but it also makes me feel like the stylish woman I always aspired to be." UK ELLE, December 2015

Hannah Swerling in Seraphine dress, Kurt Geiger boots, Marc Jacobs handbag

I remember reading this article last year about Matilda Kahl from Saatchi & Saatchi who wore the same outfit to work for 3 years. An Art Director. 

Matilda Kahl

"I have no clue how the idea of a work uniform came to me, but soon, the solution to my woes came in the form of 15 silk white shirts and a few black trousers. For a little personal detail, I remembered my mother loved to put bows in my hair as kid, so I chose to add a custom-made black leather rosette around my neck. Done...To state the obvious, a work uniform is not an original idea. There's a group of people that have embraced this way of dressing for years—they call it a suit...The simple choice of wearing a work uniform has saved me countless wasted hours thinking, "what the hell am I going to wear today?" And in fact, these black trousers and white blouses have become an important daily reminder that frankly, I'm in control." Now her colleagues hold a Dress like Matilda day, all donning this look. “The uniform is here for me, I’m not here for the uniform.”

Audrey Tatou as Coco Chanel in classic suit

I love the idea of a fashion uniform. I also know what suits & flatters my figure.  I think knowing what you like & sticking to it isn't necessarily being lazy - it's being efficient! Fashion Historian Elyssa Dimant breaks down fashion uniform dressers into three categories:“The first is the person who can’t be bothered, who wears the same pieces because he knows it fits and wears well. The second is incredibly calculating — Coco Chanel is in that category — someone who feels very strongly that one should have a select number of pieces at any given time and in perpetuity to establish identity. They are identity wearers. And then the third is just drawn to one sensibility, to one group of aesthetics, so it’s less about projecting an identity and more about what they are attracted to” Wardrboeoxygen.com

Kate Moss for Equipment SS2016

As a bonus, having a uniform makes dressing in the morning sooo much easier, with a mix & match system & palette to choose from - If only I was better at hanging up my clothes rather than always reverting to the 'floor-drobe' and 'chair-drobe'. I find it a stress-free way to dress in things you feel good in and that you love. And I'm not talking getting stuck in a dated fashion-rut. You can tweak your wardrobe to move with and adapt to changing trends and styles - and your age. For example as I live in jeans, I moved from boot-cuts in the 90's to straight leg low-riding hipsters in the noughties in my skinny years, now post kids to high waisted skinnies. 'Mom jeans' never looked so good with great cut high waisted jeans being currently in style. I'm thankful to find that as a curvy girl I can wear skinnier styles too which are both flattering, and hide the dreaded 'builder's-crack.' (Boyfriends jeans are a no for my figure though!) It's funny how the same trends keep coming around. Leopard print, man-style suits. My plaid shirt collection gets many outings and has become quite a classic look since the grunge years. A great jacket or pencil skirt never dates, and v neck tees are always good. I change my t.shirts up with graphic or logo tees, which are currently fashionable.

Kate Moss for Equipment SS2016

I like fitted shirts and I loved Burberry's heart printed shirts a few years back, and have long been into pussy-bows and star prints, which are currently featured in Kate Moss'es range for Equipment. A good fitted white shirt with a black tie YSL-style is another fave look.

Marie Kondo organizing a client's closet

If you are forever wasting money on clothes you find relegated to the back of the wardrobe, spend ages in the morning tearing your hair out in a stress over what to wear or feel stuck in a personal style wasteland, take stock - try to find your own fashion uniform.  Start by a total wardrobe overhaul and par things down. Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing has some great tips on de cluttering and purging your wardrobe - namely wear what gives you joy. "Don’t just open up your closet and decide after a cursory glance that everything in it gives you a thrill. You must take each outfit in your hand. Does it spark joy?" Then check if it fits, is it in style. A great way to start! If you aren't confident about whether it does suit you or is in style, ask a fashionable friend or even enlist a stylist to help. The cost will save you thousands in the long run and give you confidence.

Legends - Kate Moss & the Rolling Stones

I love Kate Moss. Lately she's copped some flack in the media, nasty misogynist jibes about her appearance. Yep, her skin isn't what it used to be but hey she is 42, and an unashamed smoker, party girl and sun-worshipper. She doesn't swan about boring the pants off people about "clean", "guilt-free" eating or "wellness" - I adore this observation I read about a fashion shoot catering job by Tart London - "The pair catered for a recent Vogue shoot styled by Kate Moss. “She got a big piece of baguette and slathered lots of brie on it,” Jones recalls. “Everyone else was eating quinoa. Moss is a real cool model — the way she’s just smoking and drinking — I love that.” Shooting for her range fro Equipment, she requested a cheeseburger. Unfortunately no amount of facials, dermatologists or beauty products can fix the accompanying skin damage from smoking and sun - without making you look like an over filled wax work - which Kate doesn't! Thankfully, in a world of carnival-like trout pouts and scary stretched waxen faces, Kate has not gone down that route.  She wears her natural look like a badge of honour. With that bone structure, sybaritic devil-may-care nonchalance, rock chick sensibility and innate sense of style, she's an icon and still one of my favourite models of all time. She transcends being just a model, she's a legend. I love this observation by fashion journalist Hamish Bowles from Vogue in 2011 "I have a confession to make. In the beginning, I did not understand the Kate Moss phenomenon...And then I saw her across a crowded room at a fashion party in Notting Hill, and I was stopped dead in my tracks by her laughing beauty and preternatural elegance. (“I never did a hairy armpit,” says Kate firmly of those late-eighties grunge moments. “You can look dirty, but you can’t be dirty!”) The simple fact is that Kate is irresistible. There is vulnerability and there is strength, and when she turns on the klieg light of her flirtatious, giggly life force, it is impossible not to fall just a little bit in love." 

Kate Moss and Hamish Bowles at Glastonbury 2011

Up until post Pete Doherty and the cocaine incident, we heard very little from Kate. Shrouded in mystery due to rarely giving interviews, she was an enigma. "Never complain, never explain". Even now in an age where you can find out what a celeb had for lunch, Cool Kate eschews social media. These days if you are a celebutante or pretty girl with a big Instagram following you are a 'model', and if you are getting print & runway work, you are a 'supermodel'. Kate is one of very few models that can make a legitimate claim to that title. She is one of the originals. Haters can hate as Kate appears on her 37th Vogue cover next month, giving zero f*cks about any negative press and looking as cool as ever.  It was shot for May's issue in celebration of the Rolling Stones retrospective, Exhibitionism, which opens at London's Saatchi Gallery on April 5 and styled by Kate herself. Originally she was to style another model, but loved the clothes so much she decided to do the shoot herself. Vogue's Editor Alexandra Shulman says "When we looked at the individual pieces - a nostalgic glitter-fest of jumpsuits, leather, sequins and velvet - it was clear that they could easily have come straight from Kate's own wardrobe." Topless and draped in Mick's 'Britannia flag cape' (designed by Chrissie Walsh for their European Tour in 1982), Kate exudes pure rock & roll. 

The Rolling  Stones, Top of the Pops 1971

She was to wear a pink suit Mick wore in 1971 but apparently it didn't fit - pretty surprising given how tiny she is, however the lithe rocker must have been tinier! “I don’t think it’s necessarily that Kate can’t get into my clothes, I think the clothes may have changed shape more than anything,” Mick told Britain’s Daily Mirror.

Kate by Craig McDean for British Vogue, May 2016

Kate has a long history with the Rolling Stones. In 1994-5 Kate and her then boyfriend Johnny Depp lived in NYC. They hung out with Keith Richards son Marlon and his wife Lucie de la Falaise. Lucie was a friend of Kate's already, having met her at a Galliano casting in 1989 when Kate was only 15 (Lucie's Aunt is fashion YSL muse, model and designer Loulou de la Falaise). 

Kate Moss for Galliano, 1990

Said Galliano on Kate at that casting "We were looking for new girls, and she was cast as a wild child. I think she came up to the studio—we were in the New Kings Road—and, wow, I’d found my little rough diamond. She was just amazing—put the dress on, immediately understood what she was wearing, the line, the walk. It was her frock. There was that magic, an enigma, there in front of us." Vanity Fair. Lucie was cast as one of Galliano's fellow 'feral girls'. Kate & Lucie became close friends. 

Kate Moss & Lucie de la Falaise, Harpers Bazaar 1996 by Patrick Demarchelier

Lucie met Marlon in 1992 and they lived with their daughter Ella (now also a model) near Kate & Johnny in the Village. They became Kate's surrogate family. Lucie’s mother had long been Louisa Ogilvie was “Mum",  who had taken Kate under her wing when she started out as a teenager, modeling alongside fellow fledgling model Lucie. They met Keith through Marlon. “Me and Lucie are like sisters, and me and Marlon are like brother and sister. When I met Marlon, we had this weird thing, because he was so uncomfortable in his skin, and so was I, kind of. We were very uncomfortable. And we came from completely different backgrounds. His was, like, opposite. My mum and dad stayed in and drank a bit of sherry, and his mum and dad, well, obviously … We bonded immediately.

Kate, Lucie and baby Ella, by Bruce Weber, 1997

Kate Moss, Lucie de la Falaise & Marianne Faithfull 

for W magazine, 'High Camp' by Bruce Weber, 1997

Lucie de la Falaise, Kate Moss, Marianne Faithfull and Stella McCartney

for W magazine, 'High Camp' by Bruce Weber, 1997

Ronnie and Jo Wood, Marianne Faithfull, Kate Moss and Anita Pallenberg, 1999

Keith became Uncle Keith. (Keith’s avuncular testimonial for this article was simply: “For a bad girl, she’s always been very well behaved.”) Vanity Fair

Marlon Richards, Kate Moss & Keith Richards

Kate and Marlon, 2003

Kate and Marlon, Love Magazine #8 Fall:Winter 2012 

Two major influences on Kate's style - 

Retro Anita Pallenberg (with toddler Marlon) and Marianne Faithfull

Kate then met and hung out a lot with Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithful, two of her major fashion influences. Marianne even holidayed with Kate and her family, becoming very close. She said of Kate "She’s very complex – she’s very like me. She’s a Capricorn. I think she’s great,’ she has said. Daily Mail. 

Kate and Marianne Faithfull

In 2009 Marianne suddenly came out with this barb pointed at Kate that seemed to come from left field "She’s not really my friend. I thought she was, but she’s very clever,’ she said. ‘She wanted to read me like a Braille book. And she did. It’s a vampirical thing. Now I see pictures of her with a boy who looks like Mick Jagger, and her looking like me. So there was a reason. It’s one of her gigs to do me...You know, it’s OK. I don’t give a s***. But I was quite offended at the time. We were very fond of each other. And then it suddenly soured ... She’s very clever, but she isn’t at all educated. We don’t have any [common] references. Except music.”  In 2013 Marianne retracted, saying she’s keeping her distance from people, “Except from Kate [Moss] – she’s an exception, because she’s clever and interesting, which is rare. Also, she’s clean now, which is great. It makes things much easier. She’s almost 40, which is a good time to stop. It’s when I stopped.” The Guardian

Kate and Marianne, 1997

Kate Moss with Anita Pallenberg (top) and Jo Wood at Ronnie Wood's 50th, 1997

at Ronnie Wood's 50th birthday party in Kingston upon Thames, London, 31st May 1997

Pallenberg and Faithfull's style influence on Kate is palpable. She is also close to Mick Jagger's daughter Jade. They were known as the Dynamic Duo back in the late 90's due to their stunning looks and appetites for partying.

Jade said of this 1997 picture "I was about 25 and we were doing a fashion show for our friend, the designer Matthew Williamson. I love, love the pop-py colours and crazy headdresses. Kate and I are great friends. These days we tend to hang out with our kids on holiday. The family has really brought us together. She has Lila Grace, 12, and I’ve got Assisi, 23, Amba, 19, and one-year-old Ray. We loved a night out, but these days we drink juices and do yoga together." 

Jade Jagger and Kate Moss, Dazed & Confused party 2006 in New York 

Kate with Jo & Ron Wood's daughter Leah 
and son Jessie (whom Kate briefly dated),  London  2000

Kate Moss and Ronnie Wood at her Beautiful and the Damned 30th birthday party 2004 
(where apparently he fell off the wagon) 

Kate and Theodora Richards

by Mario Testino for Burberry S/S 2004

In 2007 Kate moved in with Ronnie Wood & then wife Jo to get over her split with Pete Dougherty. Kate had dated their son Jessie Wood in 2000. When she married The Kills rocker Jamie Hince in 2011 she walked down the aisle to the Gloucester Cathedral choir singing "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" and served Keith Richards' famous shepherd's pie as part of the wedding banquet (He published the recipe in his 2010 memoir "Life." Kate was amongst those thanked in the book's acknowledgments). Ella De La Falaise was a flower girl. Now split from Jamie, Kate is dating Nikolai von Bismark - who once dated Keith Richards'  daughter Theodora. It makes perfect sense to cast the ultimate rock chick as well as a personal friend of the Stones & their extended family on this tribute cover.

Kate in Keith tee, 2015