AS Kate Moss graces the cover of Vogue for the 41st time she demon-strates longevity rarely seen in models.
The catwalk queen is the fashion bible’s most prolific cover girl and shows that she has still got it at the age of 46.
Kate, who grew up in Croydon, South London, before being spotted by a model scout at 14, first appeared on Vogue’s cover in 1993.
And 27 years later she is still marketable, with her main company Kate Moss Ltd worth £12million.
It must be a huge relief for Kate, whose career almost ended overnight in 2005 after pictures of her emerged snorting a white substance.
Brand expert Mark Borkowski says Kate — who has dated actor Johnny Depp, 57, Libertines front man Pete Doherty, 41, and was married to Jamie Hince, 51, until 2016 — has an enduring appeal that younger models can’t match.
He says: “She is an icon.
"Models have come and gone but Kate has stood the test of time.
"There isn’t the environment for them to build their brand like she has.
“Her cocaine scandal saw her lose contracts but she has reinvented herself. She’s repositioned her brand and keeps it relevant.”
Once nicknamed “The Tank” for her ability to put away vodka, Kate has now ditched parties and booze for early nights and yoga.
Here we look at how Kate is still raking in millions after three decades.
The Campaigns
IN the past year Kate has collaborated with luxury brands including Messika, Jimmy Choo, Coach, Giorgio Armani and starred in Matthew Williams’ debut collection for Givenchy.
In the Nineties she could command fees of £10,000 a day, but Mark says: “She won’t be earning as much as she did then.
The key thing is that she’s maintaining those contracts. Some will pay a lot but some will do more for her brand image than bank balance.”
Her Agency
NOT only is Kate beautiful, she is a savvy businesswoman.
After she launched her talent agency in 2016, Kate said: “I want people who can sing, dance and act. I want to create stars.”
Kate Moss Agency is now worth around £1.7million and has pop star Rita Ora, 30, and Lila Grace — Kate’s 18-year-old daughter with Dazed magazine founder Jefferson Hack — on its books.
Published accounts for Kate’s other companies show Tilly Church Ltd, which deals with media representation, is worth £1.8million and Skate LLP £140,000.
The Homes
KATE owns an £8million home in Highgate, North London, but has spent much of lockdown in her luxury Cotswolds mansion with long-term boyfriend Count Nikolai von Bismarck, 33, Lila Grace, and half-sister Lottie, 22.
The grade II-listed property boasts ten bedrooms and is likely to have shot up in price since she bought it for £2million.
The area is a celeb hotspot and Kate even designed the interiors of a nearby five-bedroom barnhouse, worth £2.5million, for luxury design company YOO Homes.
Icon
KATE has featured on around 300 magazine covers in the past 30 years.
Iconic covers include her topless shoot with Naomi Campbell for Interview mag, taking a bubble bath in a wet T-shirt for Love Magazine and posing naked with Rihanna for V Magazine.
For her 40th British Vogue cover last year, editor-in-chief Edward Enninful hailed Kate as a “cultural icon”.
He wrote: “Everybody loves Kate. Many people have grown up with her, so a big part of her allure is that they feel they know her.
“She has an air of accessibility, like your next door neighbour – but the super-intriguing one who you know is having the best time ever.”
While she may be one of the world’s most famous women, Kate maintains an aura of mystique, choosing not to share her personal life on social media.
Mark says: “She is not ubiquitous. She doesn’t often do interviews.
"You rarely hear her voice. She doesn’t have a personal Instagram account.
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“Even when paparazzi shots are taken, she is always snapped in cool places and keeps in with the cool set. She is in control of how she is seen.”
The model with a magic touch
By fashion designer, TV presenter and Kate's mate Patrick Grant
IN a world of Jenners and Kardashians, where everything is public but nothing is real, we’ve lost the allure, it’s insipid.
Kate is the opposite, her life is a beautiful mystery and every bit of it is real.
I first met Kate on a holiday in Cornwall just after her split from Pete Doherty.
Wherever we went the paparazzi were hiding in bushes or climbing up trees.
We went for a spin round the fields on a quad bike and she told me the most dazzling, indiscrete stories about her sexual adventures with a who’s who of the world’s most beautiful, handsome and infamous men.
Kate’s entire life has a Hollywood quality to it.
Every image tells a new story, every image is filled with truth, and that requires intelligence and a kind of voodoo magic you just cannot fake.
Everything she touches comes alive.
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- Read the full feature in the January/February 2021 issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands Friday, December 4.