Interview with Kate Moss
Thursday / October 1, 2026
About Kate Moss
English model who rose to fame in the early 1990s, with campaigns for Calvin Klein, shows for Chanel, Versace and Alexander McQueen, and many Vogue covers.
Source: Vogue on YouTube
These answers are taken from Kate Moss Breaks Down 20 Memorable Looks From 1991 To Now | Life in Looks on Vogue's YouTube channel. You! Backstage did not conduct this interview.
What was your very first experience with modeling?
This was Dolce & Gabbana, probably my first show in Milan. I think I just met Naomi and Christy. That was the beginning of years of fashion fun.
It was definitely easier having a group of friends, because it can be quite lonely when you start out if you don't know people and you're staying in these hotels that are not very nice. And they don't feed you at shows either. Glass of champagne, that was it, back in the day.
What do you enjoy most about modeling?
I think this was at a time when I was doing so many shows in a day that you wouldn't even notice what clothes you were wearing. Sometimes six shows a day. Now you could only do one or two, maybe at a push. Then I would run in 20 minutes before the show starts, with hair and makeup from the other show, and they would just throw it all on. So it was a lot of adrenaline. It was so much fun.
Chanel shows were so chaotic. There were hundreds and hundreds of people backstage, and the fittings would always go on all night. And Karl was so lovely and generous. Once my mum came with me to a fitting, and he said, 'Take them downstairs,' and my mum got a Chanel suit and a bag. It's one of those things you never forget, really.
What was a great moment for you as a model?
This is John's show in Paris. I still have that jacket. I cried after this show, because a lot of the girls got more than one look and I only had one look, and I thought, he doesn't like me.
I was crying, and that's when I met Mario Testino. He came up to me on the stairs and was like, 'Why are you crying?' And I was like, 'He only gave me one outfit.' And he said, 'You are like perfume. You only need one drop.'
How did your career as a model unfold?
This is my first shoot for Calvin Klein, with Patrick Demarchelier and Fabien Baron. Fabien said, 'You should go meet Calvin.' So I went to the office and he booked me for this campaign, CK Jeans. He wanted to put me onto contract, and that was a big thing, to be a model and have a contract. So funny, because Paul said, 'Okay, just take it. You're so short, you're never going to work that much anyway.'
My first big paycheck was on a Vivienne Westwood coat. It was sheepskin and it was pale blue, to the floor. Oh, it's so beautiful. I still have it.
What has been your greatest accomplishment as a model?
I was very lucky, actually. I feel really lucky. When I had my first Vogue cover I thought, right, I've made it, that's it, I don't have to do it anymore. I think I was 19.
It was really special for me to be on Vogue. I was like, wow, I couldn't believe it. I've got it framed at home. It's one of my favorite pictures.
Of all the shoots, shows and campaigns you have done, which is your favorite?
Kim's last Louis Vuitton show. Naomi and I did the finale in our trench. I love that trench. We were screaming. It was one of those fashion moments, for sure.
I met Kim at my friend's wedding and we were just hanging out, and he started voguing. I was like, 'Oh my God, you know how to vogue,' and I was like, 'I love you,' and he was, 'I love you,' and then that was it. We just became friends.
Describe your style.
I love vintage shopping. It's my favorite thing. I kind of go in and can feel it, like there's treasures in there, and then I just go through everything and put it in the dressing room, then try everything on.
This I found in a vintage shop down the street from my house. I didn't have anything to wear for my 30th birthday. I'd just flown in the night before and I was like, what am I gonna wear? So we walked down to Church Street, and there's a little shop on the corner. You go downstairs and they had some antique dresses, and we found this. It had a cape and it was blue sequins.
I loved the bumsters, because I used to wear really, really low things anyway.
At Glastonbury it was really muddy that year and you had to have a welly on. Doesn't really matter what goes on top. I think footwear is key, because as long as you can get around, that's what you need to do at festivals.
Tell me about a shoot or a show that was hard to pull off. What was it and why was it challenging?
This is a Vivienne Westwood show, and it was a Magnum ice cream, and they just said, 'Eat that while you go out with no top on.' I was like, yeah, I'll try. I managed that in those heels as well.
I've worked with Comic Relief a lot. I'm always up for it, and they asked me to be Katie Pollard, Vicky Pollard's little sister. I thought, amazing, that is hilarious. But I didn't know it was live at a theater. I thought it was going to be on TV and we could cut, and it was a script and all that. And I don't like talking. I get really nervous. I love talking to my friends, but if I had to accept something, it's 'thank you' and run away. My whole body was shaking, and then the curtains opened and we ran out, and it just went by in a flash. But I didn't fluff it. I was so happy. For me, a huge success. My one night, one night only, on stage.
Tell me something I may not know from reading your credits.
Lee asked me to do something special for his show. They put me in the dress, put me in a harness, and then I spun around, wafting. He said he wanted me to be like a wisp, like a phoenix rising and then going into a fairy and whispering away.
He said, 'You could come to the show and see it, but it'd be better if you didn't.' And I said, 'Yeah, I think you're right.' So I went to Thailand with my mum, and I woke up at four in the morning and phoned my friend who was at the show. The show had just finished, and I could hear all the clapping and people screaming, and she was like, 'It was amazing.'
Since then I've seen it, and I cried, because obviously I saw it after he died. It was amazing. He was a genius.
Kate Moss's Full Biography
One of the more controversial supermodels, primarily because of her unusually low weight during the early part of her career. (she typified the "waif" models). Her unusual appearance (and possibly her willingness to appear nude, "It's just work") have, in a very short time, made her almost as widely recognized as Cindy Crawford.