Kate Moss Talk
Penny Martin, Editor, SHOWstudio: Kate Moss, we have invited you to participate in our series of interviews with major image-makers because you occupy the roles of both image and image-maker. Not only are you one of the most talked-about and desired women on earth, you rose to fame during a decade where fashion became a mainstream cultural concern. You are the face of a British youth movement shaped by the end of Thatcherism, dance culture and new technology. Does any of that make you happy?
Kate Moss: Yes, it definitely makes me happy that I’m part of a period of such cultural change. However, I don’t think about me being a desired woman, or as being talked about, because that would make me paranoid.
Phil Bicker, New York: Before modelling, did you have any idea of what you’d like to do?
Kate Moss: I knew I wanted to travel, because my Dad worked in the travel business and I knew I wanted to leave Croydon. I hadn’t even thought about what I wanted to do when I left school because I was only 14 when I started modelling.
Charlotte Cotton, Victoria & Albert Museum, London: What did it feel like to see yourself on the cover of The Face in July 1990?
Kate Moss: I was really embarrassed because there were pictures of me topless inside. I was still at school of course, so I got a lot of stick because I was so flat-chested.
Elaine, New York: How much of your success would you attribute to your management? At what stage did you start to make your own decisions rather than following instructions?
Kate Moss: Quite early. When I started working a lot, at one point I was doing about 10 flights in a week and I had to start saying no to things. Of course, your management push to get you work and you want them to think about the long-term, where I would be like ‘I want to do The Face’, even thought it wouldn’t earn me any money.
Charlotte Wheeler, SHOWstudio: At what point did you realise that your height wasn’t going to stand in the way of your success?
Kate Moss: When I started doing shows, because of course, everyone else was taller. I thought, ‘if I can do the runway with all these taller girls, then nothing can stand in my way’.
Marianne Faithful, Paris: So Kate - I went through a long period of time where I thought it would never all work out. Wanting the dream to come true, then it changed and the dream became a reality. Have you ever experienced that? Please explain.
Kate Moss: Oh, God, Marianne! I didn’t really have a dream where I thought ‘Oh, I want to be a star’. It kind of all rolled along and then suddenly, I was in the papers and it was all a bit of a shock. Now I’ve got the dream because I’ve got the family and I’m still working. That was my dream always.
Sadie Frost, London: What’s been the happiest day of your life?
Kate Moss: Well, you know, I gave birth, so that’s definitely got to be up there!
Euan Angus, Galloway: What’s your all-time favourite cover featuring yourself?
Kate Moss: Probably now, it’s the Face one or the June 1998 Vogue one with the sheepskin.
John Galliano, Paris: My first show in Paris was also your first defile for me in Paris. If I remember you were only 16 years old…How did you feel doing the show with the top supermodels Naomi, Linda and Christy?
Kate Moss: I was so nervous that I couldn’t eat all day. The runway was the longest one I’ve ever seen. I felt like it went on forever and I was up there on my own. The afterwards, we went to watch the video at his office and someone had stolen all the champagne. There was only whisky and I drank so much that I passed out at his dinner. I was supposed to be back at school on Monday morning and I was still in Paris on Wednesday!
Nick Knight, Richmond: Why do you model? Is it a need for love and appraisal? Is it a natural desire to show off? Is it art or is it a drug?
Kate Moss: I wasn’t a show-off by nature, but I do think you get into that, even though I was shy. That becomes the drug.
Pablo Gimenez Zapiola, Texas: What do you think it is about your appearance exactly that has brought you fame?
Kate Moss: I’ve no idea. At all.