On the campaign that catapulted Kate to international superstardom—the 1993 Calvin Klein Obsession shoot she did with then boyfriend Mario Sorrenti: “I think Calvin was really clever. He knew there was going to be something… I knew it was a job, but I thought it was going to be a right laugh. It was the only time I got paid to go away. It’s never been like that since. Mario worked me like a dog. He was more professional than I was. He didn’t stop taking pictures even when I was sleeping. I was like, ‘Leave me alone.’ I’d wake up to the click of the Pentax. I don’t remember relaxing. I remember working. I laid down on that couch for days. Days! For days, he’d say, ‘Stay there and don’t move.’”
On recently seeing never-before-published photos from the 1993 shoot that could be used for the new Calvin Klein Obsessed campaign: “It was like seeing home movies. I don’t tend to cry, but it was so nostalgic. Oh, my God, we were so young. I showed them to my daughter [14-year-old Lila Grace], and she said, ‘Oh, Mommy, look how little you were.’”
On why those images from ’93 remain potent—because of their honesty and purity: “People can’t take pictures like that anymore. The photos weren’t styled. There was nobody doing my hair and makeup. It was just raw. It captured a moment in our lives. And you couldn’t re-create them or that feeling. We didn’t have anything to lose and didn’t care what people thought. It was seven days on our own. It was very passionate. Mario and I were young and we were in love.”
