La Vie En Kate

I remember the first time I saw a picture of Kate Moss. I was flipping through a magazine at my friend Caroline’s house. I must have been about 12 or 13. I was instantly struck, my immediate response being, “Who the fuck is that?” I remember the picture. It was an obsession ad where Kate is lying on a couch, she is naked and on her stomach with her head turned to the side and her eyes looking at the camera. She was skinny and plain yet, simultaneously, her beauty and appearance trumped every other girl in the magazine. Even naked she was stylish. Very soon afterward I came to know that her name was Kate Moss and I began to see her everywhere. She was always captivating and different and cool and I frequently had surges of wishing that I looked like her. She began to emerge as an intriguing personality, a complex character who was rising to the top of the fashion world while contradicting all the rules of that realm. She didn’t seem to seek approval though her success was dependent on her being desired. Her beauty was evanescent and translucent at times and glamorous and painted at others. She was a true chameleon and I would always point her out to my mother who could never tell it was her from one picture to another. Over the years her beauty evolved into a more tangible, attainable form, with a real, earthbound, sexual appeal. It has become apparent that she is flawed and a human being like the rest of us yet, for me, the intrigue only increases.(Eva Weatherly-Rosner)