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."
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
Lucie de la Falaise, Kate Moss, Marianne Faithfull and Stella McCartney
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 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
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)
(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
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