Style: Kate Moss for Topshop

Most of us have a Kate Moss story.
Mine takes me back to high school, when – a fresh-faced teen dividing my attention between Nirvana and fashion photography – I first laid eyes on a certain Calvin Klein advert.
In it, a topless girl with a fragile gaze and dripping-wet hair stared from the page and looked positively haunting. That image of Ms Moss – taken by then boyfriend Mario Sorrenti – had, in so many ways, such likeness to the music I listened to and the books I read, it started a love affair with a raw aesthetic labelled Broken Beauty not long after that.
And the rest, is fashion history at its very best.

Fast-forward two decades, and Kate Moss is an iconic name and face, and one which reaches beyond the exclusive world of frock design. Even so, that’s exactly what she’s been doing, playing both muse and mentor at Topshop HQ, where alongside the in-house design team her second collection for the British brand has been brought to life from initial sketches and fabric sourcing to the final piece.

The collection will hit Topshop floors on the 30th April (just 4 days to go!), and will be inspired by the model’s own groundbreaking style, including her famous festival looks.

Here’s what the iconic beauty has to say regarding her second collaboration with Topshop…

Talk us through the design process. What is your favourite part?

I like the whole process from hanging out with the design team, deciding on the concept, getting excited about things and realising, “we really can get the quality of the fabrics we want,” and of course seeing the final collection come back.

Were there any challenges? 

Making sure the embellishments were right and making it look chic and glamorous, while keeping the essence of the collection.

When you are designing a collection, what items do you always include?

A jacket is always a good one – our jackets have always been my favourite things. The leather jackets are amazing, and the blazers. But also need the little tea dresses and it’s essential to have the dresses for special occasions, the cocktail dressses, this collection has some great pieces for the evening.

Has designing clothes given you a new appreciation of fashion?

I think it has made me much more aware of the attention to detail, and I can also see how you can achieve great quality clothing and design but still make it affordable.

Has your method of designing changed since your first?

My first collection was seven years ago in 2007. I have grown up since then, and things that I want to wear are different. It is a natural evolvement.

Has it grown up?

I was girlier then, and I could still get away with wearing flowery little things. We still have tea dresses in the collection but they are more grown up now – a bit more sophisticated but you can still wear them if you are young.

Do you feel you’ve grown as a designer since then?

I have just grown up generally. I think I learnt a lot the first time around, because I didn’t know anything about designing then. I learnt a lot from that experience and so I didn’t come in blind this time – I knew the process. Phillip has taught me a lot, I now know about the stitches, the fabrics and the quality.

Could you sum up the collection in three words?

Me, me, me…

Kate on the shop window of Topshop Oxford Street on the launch of the first collaboration.