It’s April 2007 and London’s Oxford Circus is livid with horns. Rather than traffic, it’s pedestrians who are causing the hold-up, spilling onto the street in their thousands as they wait to witness the unveiling of the eighth wardrobe wonder of the world. For this be the day that Kate Moss – supermodel, icon, girlboss, style queen – launches her first collection for Topshop.
We all know what happened next: the collection sold out within hours, its most fabled pieces – the leather jacket, the floral tea dress – becoming collector’s items, resold for many times their original price (a beaded silver flapper dress is currently listed on eBay for £1,157). In 2007, models didn’t design collections for high street brands. This was a rule-breaking, history-making day that changed the landscape of fashion.
I was there and it was manic. It was equally manic when Moss launched her collection with Mango in Milan in 2015. Waiting to interview her inside the store, I feared the baying crowd might break the doors down. Face upon face was pressed against the glass, desperate for a glimpse of her. Whatever fame is, Moss has it. She is the moment.
A lot has changed since then, but Moss is still the moment. So common are celebrity x high street hook-ups these days that we don’t even bother articulating the whole word – they’re simply ‘collabs’. This season alone, there’s Naomi x PLT, Fearne x Nobody’s Child, Nadine x New Look, Amanda Holden x Lipsy and Sienna x M&S, to name a few. Some are great. Some are less so. None fill the Kate x Topshop-shaped hole that has existed in women’s wardrobes since her final collection was released in 2010.
But all that is set to change on 30 November, when Moss releases her debut collection for Zara. And while it’s unlikely she’ll promote it by pole dancing in the window (not very Zara, babes), nor does she need to. Such is the popularity of Zara, the quality of the collection and the perennial allure of Moss that it will sell regardless. ‘The collection is sexy, fun, rock’n’roll,’ Moss tells Grazia. ‘It’s a day-to-night collection – we wanted something that could translate to both. The pieces are perfect for a party, but they had to be versatile, too. Take the jacket off and you’re in a halterneck, that kind of idea.’
She makes it sound so easy – but then, for Moss it always has been. Some 34 years after the ultimate girl next door first graced the cover of The Face, we’re as enthralled by her style as we’ve ever been.
Given the endless clothes and accessories at their disposal, most models would be hard-pressed not to dress well, but there’s always been an authenticity to the way Moss puts things together that feels truly unique. And even though the competition is far higher in 2024 than it was when she first found fame, she stands out more than ever. In a sea of celebrities with crack teams of image consultants employed specifically to dress them in the latest things (studded Alaïa ballet flats for spring? Groundbreaking), Moss’s sense of style feels all the rarer.
Just as her Topshop collections wisely delved into her own wardrobe for inspiration, so too does her new collection for Zara. There will be leopard print. There will be lurex. There will be a black tuxedo jacket of the sort you’ve always wished you owned. A bit disco, a bit rock chick, shades of Debbie Harry and Lauren Hutton loom large. ‘Ultimately, the collection had to be about things that we wanted,’ she explains of the design process. ‘There are pieces I’ve had in my wardrobe that I have worn over and over again. I know that they’re the pieces I’ll pack when I go away. Certain dresses here feel exactly like that, like they’ll become new staples, like the long cream dress. It’s so easy and so glamorous and you could wear it on a beach or in a nightclub with a heel.’
The long cream dress she describes is likely to be a future wardrobe classic. It’s a grown-up, pared-back, elegant replacement for the slinky sequinned cocktail dresses that formed the backbone of her partywear during the Topshop era. Moss is 50 now, and while her new Zara collection is still sexy (that leopard-print bra!), it’s also sensual, with a surfeit of tactile fabrics that skim the body rather than cling. It’s still heavily influenced by her wardrobe, but focuses on those pieces that, as she admits, are versatile enough to wear on a slew of different occasions.
Not least the impending Christmas party season. ‘There are a couple of pieces here that are real 'Christmas party, going for dinner and lending you a bit of sparkle’,' says Moss. ‘The brocade jacket worn over a dress – that definitely says Christmas. But you could also wear it to a gig with jeans.’
Like Moss herself, the new collection has cross-generational appeal. For a generation that grew up with her, items like the silver lurex jersey dress will take them straight down memory lane to Glastonbury 2005, when she wore a similar one with a pair of black Hunter wellies. For Gen Z, the dress might be devoid of memory, but it will still stand alone as a desirable piece. Now 18 and 14, my own daughters wouldn’t exactly thrive on Mastermind if the specialist subject was ‘Kate Moss’s Most Iconic Fashion Moments 1992-2002’. But they still know exactly who she is. Like all her friends, my elder daughter loves Zara. They come for the perfume. They’ll stay for Moss’s leopard-print ballet flats and low-rise jeans.
This has been a vintage year for high street fashion collaborations. We’ve already been spoiled by Clare Waight Keller x Uniqlo, Sienna Miller x M&S, Tabitha Simmons x Next, and John Lewis x A.W.A.K.E Mode – not to mention Zara’s capsule collections designed by Harry Lambert and Stefano Pilati. At a time when women are being more careful than ever with their spending, the high street has truly upped its game, capitulating to our demands for better value teamed with better quality. It knows we don’t want bargains just for the sake of them: we want items that are built to last.
Moss is no fool: you don’t remain at the top of the fashion tree by being less than astute. She knows the market’s more competitive than it was in 2007, and she has raised her game accordingly. She’s shrewdly enlisted the services of her good friend Katy England, the stylist who also collaborated on her collections for Topshop. ‘She’s very picky,’ laughs Moss, admitting she was surprised that England said yes. ‘I said, 'Really, you would do that with me again?' I got quite excited. I think she’s such an amazing talent. That she would want to work with me again was so flattering. We said, 'Who could we do this with?' and straight away she said, 'Zara are the best at doing this kind of thing'.’
Race you to the tills? Not quite. It’s time for a new way. Like the collection itself, the people who buy it will be cool and discerning. They won’t race anywhere. They’ll take their time. That’s how you build a lasting wardrobe: not by impulse buying, but by cherry-picking what you know will serve you long and well. Just ask Kate Moss.