The Lust List continues its celebration of all things September Issue with the mother of all September Issue's, Vogue. For 2011, Kate Moss celebrates not only her recent wedding to rocker Jamie Hince, but yet another cover for the publication. Besides having Mario Testino as her wedding photographer, and Vogue as a sort of "wedding album", there is plenty of glamour that makes this cover girl a Lust Icon.
Moss was born in Croydon, London, in 1974. Her mother, a bar maid, and her father, a travel agent, separated when she was thirteen. As the cliche goes, separated parents meant trouble in school. Moss definitely struggled with academics, but excelled at athletics [and beauty].
A year later, at fourteen, Moss was discovered by Sarah Doukas of Storm Model Management [one of the world's leading agencies, based in London]. She was returning from holiday in the Bahamas when Doukas spotted her at JFK Airport in New York.
Her now iconic modeling career began at sixteen when black-and-white photographs of Moss appeared in British magazine, The Face. This was 1990, and models like Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell were flaunting their curvaceous and tall figures, while Moss was booking gigs with her "waifish" look. It was a stark contrast that led Moss to become known as the "anti-supermodel" of the nineties and of course led to controversy.
Moss changed the look of modeling and began a global debate on eating orders when she ushered in the "heroin chic" look for Calvin Klein in 1993. Who could forget the controversial CK One ads? This new look and the controversy behind it even got the attention of then U.S. President, Bill Clinton. Clinton issued a statement against the "heroin chic" trend. When people wanted answers, Moss commented, ""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'?"
Controversy led to success. Moss has worked with countless French, American, and British designers [Chanel, Burberry, Versace, Gucci, etc.] and more magazines than you could imagine [over 300 covers in her twenty-one year career]. Not only print, she has been featured on television ads for Rimmel London. Not only commercial ads, she has been featured in music videos for The White Stripes, Elton John, and Johnny Cash. Not only music videos, she has been featured as vocals on albums for bands like The Lemonheads. She has worked with countless well known photographers like Testino, Hedi Slimane, and Steven Klein.
Besides "heroin chic", Moss has also been credited as establishing the trend "boho-chic". She is a fashion icon, earning numerous awards including the Council of Fashion Designers of America's fashion influence award. She is also known for popularizing denim cutoff shorts, Ugg boots, ballet flats, skinny jeans, Louis Vuitton's Stephen Sprouse leopard cashmere scarf, Alexander McQueen's skull scarf, and the Balenciaga handbag.
With all of this success, you would think Moss would be an untouchable, but in 2005 controversy hit again. The Daily Mirror ran front page and inside photos that seemed to show Moss snorting several lines of a white powder that was presumed to be cocaine at a recording session. The photos led to Moss being dropped by H&M and Chanel. 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."
Though she continued work, there was much debate on whether or not Moss would survive scandal this time around. She left Britain, where the photographs were taken, and went to the states. Which, in itself was controversial since she faced possible jail time for allegations of cocaine use. She was publicly defended by several peers in the industry, including Alexander McQueen who wore a shirt that read, "We love you Kate".
In 2006, the Metropolitan asked Moss to return to Britain for questioning. After which, charges were dropped due to lack of evidence and she resumed her modeling career.
According to Forbes, Moss has earned more money since her cocaine scandal than ever before. While from 2004-2005 her earnings were $5 million, in 2005–2006 her earnings were $8 million. In 2006, Moss won the Model of the Year prize at the British Fashion Awards, the top accolade in British fashion, but the award divided opinion and stirred fresh controversy. Many saw her career revival as a sign of moral and cultural decline.
In 2007, with estimated earnings of $9 million, she was the second highest paid model in the world, behind Gisele Bündchen. It seemed, controversy paid off again [in more ways than one].
Glamour, rebellion, style, an amazing career [and career revival], are all things the Lust List looks for in a Lust Icon and Kate Moss has it all. Now that you know all about the icon, you can stop judging the book by it's cover.
Enjoy these photos of Moss from the current issue of Vogue, and check out the full feature here. If Vogue isn't enough for you, Mario Testino also published an entire book of photographs of Moss, who he describes as "his personal muse". Titled "Kate Moss by Mario Testino", you can get your hands on one of 1,500 limited edition signed hard copies, for nearly $1,400.
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