thestar.com
Kate Moss: Queen of cool
By S. INDRAMALAR
[email protected]
Less is more when it comes to make-up for supermodel Kate Moss.
BRITISH make-up brand Rimmel certainly struck gold when they signed supermodel Kate Moss on as their global ambassador more than a decade ago.
Moss was 27 at the time and had been modelling for 13 years – an eternity in the modelling world but not for Moss whose star was still bright and shiny.
She was haute fashion commodity. She had just been chosen as the face of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle and was featured (again) in
Vogue with a chic new pixie cut.
Kate Moss appeared in the Spring/Summer 2009 campaign for British brand Topshop.
Moss has since become the most featured women in
Vogue, having appeared on more than 30 covers.
Moss was the rock chick who dated handsome Hollywood actor Johnny Depp (back in 1997; they apparently bathed together in champagne), the party girl who sometimes got into trouble for partying a little too hard.
She was chosen to front the brand because, well, she’s British, funky, cool and fun – kind of what Rimmel is about. She was the perfect London girl for the brand’s edgy and street wise “Get The London Look” campaign.
Now at 37, Moss is still the rock chick everyone wants to dress like. She’s the queen of cool and even though she doesn’t walk the runways as much – except as a favour for friends like designer Marc Jacobs for whom she closed the Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter show during Paris Fashion Week – she’s become a style icon.
She’s been dubbed “the girl who launched a thousand fads” and “London’s most copied girl” and is still making the cover of top fashion magazines (her latest being the September issue of French
Vogue).
Yes, Rimmel certainly struck gold.
To celebrate their 10-year partnership with Moss, Rimmel organised a huge media event in London last September.
Cool campaign: Moss epitomises the London Look, which is the motto of top British make-up brand Rimmel.
Journalists from around the world (Malaysia included) were flown to London to interview Moss, get a sneak peek at
Kate (Moss’ very first lipstick collection for the brand), and party with the supermodel and her fellow Rimmel ambassadors – Georgia May Jagger, Solange Knowles and South American model Alejandro Ramos – at London’s Battersea Power Station.
Moss rarely does interviews so it was quite significant for Rimmel that she agreed to do not just a press conference but also group interviews with journalists from Asia, Europe and the United States.
Naturally, the ballroom at Claridges, London’s luxury hotel in Mayfair, was packed almost to the brim with journalists, photographers and invited guests, all curious to see the newly-married Moss (she wed musician Jamie Hince in July) especially with the swirling rumours about a possible baby bump.
Moss arrived without much fanfare.
A four-minute video clip of her latest Rimmel advertisement was screened to set the mood. In the video, Moss is in a studio, being prepped for a photo shoot. She decides to sneak away from the shoot, wearing just a men’s white shirt over her undies.
Moss in a striking stance and ‘sky-high’ heels!
She runs up a flight of stairs, finds a rack of clothes (presumably meant for the shoot) and changes into a pair of tight black leather shorts, a tube and a dark military jacket.
She struts into a recording studio, picks up a guitar and jams with British indie rock band The Vaccines.
She then runs off once again, strips down to her skivvies, throws on a sexy red dress and makes her way up the stairs to the roof of the building where a helicopter awaits her. Moss turns to the camera and delivers the Rimmel tagline – “Get The London Look” – before she hops onto the helicopter, her red dress flapping in the wind.
The video was quite captivating; it reflected both Moss and the funky new look of the brand – cool, edgy, playful, dangerous and beautiful.
As soon as the clip ended, the lights in the ballroom came on and out walked Moss, smiling graciously as the crowd broke into applause.
Dressed in a grey Stella McCartney knitted vest with a scooped neckline and grey Alexander McQueen cigarette pants, Moss looked pencil thin – not quite the waif she was when she made her debut in 1991 but still without an ounce of fat anywhere.
Standing at 168cm – she was always smaller than the supermodels of her time – Moss looked tiny. No sign of a baby bump whatsoever.
Her wavy hair was golden and silken and her face was fresh, with barely any trace of make-up save for trademark black eyeliner and red lips she almost always sports. Moss later revealed that the red lip colour was from her Lasting Lipstick collection, Kate.
“I had fun (with the commercial). But the best part was getting on the chopper and going home,” she joked when asked her experience shooting the advertisement by Steve Mormoris, senior vice-president of global marketing for Coty Beauty.
In person, Moss was pleasant; even a little giggly. But she didn’t chat very much. If anything, she seemed a little nervous being in front of such a large crowd.
“It means a lot,” she said about her 10-year relationship with Rimmel.
“We’ve had a strong working relationship for it to have lasted 10 years. It’s been successful and it has worked for both Rimmel and myself, which is always important. And it also means I’ve done my job properly. And now (with the lipstick collection), it’s onto another level.”
In a 2001 interview with
Hello Magazine, Moss shared her pleasure in collaborating with Rimmel because she grew up using their make-up.
“I used Rimmel when I was a kid,” she had said. “I love the fact that it is a British brand. Heather Shimmer lipstick was my favourite.”
In the group interviews, Moss seemed somewhat more relaxed, though still not chatty. She spoke about her experience creating her own line of lipstick for the first time, among other things.
Of all the beauty products in the market, lipstick is the most iconic, reckoned Moss, as it can define a season.
“Lipstick, for me, is sexy. It’s instant glamour. My inspiration for Kate was really to create a range of easy-to-wear, classic shades that I have always worn and loved.
“I saw a lot of shades, about 100 ... I saw every single shade and then we narrowed it down to 15 shades that I would wear or that my friends would wear.
“From bright reds to soft pinks to nudes, there is a shade for everyone and any occasion. Whatever your outfit is, there is sure to be a shade to match,” said Moss, adding that she prefers a nude or beige lip in the day, but red when she’s going out at night.
Apart from choosing the colours for the range, Moss said she was very particular in making sure her lipsticks felt as good as they looked.
“It was also really important to me that they are comfortable to wear. It’s modern in the way that it goes on.
“It doesn’t feel cakey and it doesn’t feel like you’ve got something stuck on your lips. It has a bit of sheen and it blends in well with your face. I need to feel like I can still feel my lips, especially if I kiss someone!”
The Kate collection was released in Britain in September and comprises seven shades of red, pink and nude packaged in a matte black case which represents Moss’s rock edge.
“I wanted to keep it simple; nothing too bling so the packaging is black and just really cool and matte,” she said.
Keeping things simple, it seems, is Moss’ mantra when it comes to make-up.
“Don’t wear too much make-up, especially if you’re young. Some young girls nowadays really cake it on, it’s terrible.
“Less is more, really. A bit of mascara, a bit of eyeliner, a bit of lip colour,” advised Moss, adding that the only three items you’d find in her handbag are her lipstick, nail varnish and eyeliner.
When a reporter asked her how she felt being the trendsetter for the “London look”, Moss grew visibly uncomfortable.
“No I don’t think (I set the “London look”); I don’t think of it that way. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to step out of the house at all ... thinking people are judging my look all the time.
“The London look is so eclectic. It is has such a diversity of culture – all the music, clubs and galleries. There’s such a freedom of choice – people can make up their own fashion, inspired by our amazing designers.
“Me, I personally like rock and roll so the London look would be ... a leather jacket,” she said.
Throughout her 23-year career, Moss has been credited for the resurgence of many a trend.
Chances are, if you’re in skinny jeans, denim cut-offs, ballet flats and have a scarf with a skull motif, you’ve been influenced by Moss’ fashion, whether indirectly or not.
Rock and roll may be her style but it’s often mixed with vintage styles from her favourite decade for fashion – the 60s.
Said Moss in an interview with
style.co.uk, “I love the 60s with Julie Christie and Jane Birkin ... those natural English beauties. That’s the look that is most me, when I wear tight-to-the-knee dresses”
Once the interviews were done – Moss spent five hours with the journos – it was time for the grand party at Battersea.
Moss arrived in style by helicopter (picking up from where she left off in the advertisement), dressed in a strapless black dress with silver detailing and sky-high heels.
And of course, her fire-engine red lipstick from Kate!
Its Xmas Im sure Kate is shopping all over London for Lila and Jamie's presents (amongst the people she cherishes).
