Kate Moss

Turning personal style into products

Kate Moss was born in Croydon, south London, in 1974. Storm founder Sarah Doukas discovered her at JFK airport in 1988, when she was fourteen. Her career did not begin through established fashion connections or specialist training. As adolescent life gave way to shoots and travel, she learned to work for the camera. Her emergence is better understood through the interaction of agency judgement, photographers and changing editorial tastes than through physical appearance alone.

Moss began her Topshop collections in 2007, using her own wardrobe as design reference. A Longchamp handbag collaboration followed in 2010, and the 2014 Topshop project continued that personal approach. Her contribution expanded from presenting finished clothes to supplying selection and taste. Off-duty style, accumulated through photographs and magazines, became a commercial vocabulary. This does not equate fame with design expertise; it identifies the particular role taste played within collaborative projects.