She struts down the runway, cameras flashing, fashionistas gushing, as she shows off the latest from Dior.
With her Martian eyes, pouty lips, child-woman face, and the body of a lanky 15-year-old, Kate Moss is the perfect human clothes hanger.
The fashion world adores her. For that reason she is omnipresent.
She’s been the face of Calvin Klein, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Missoni, David Yurman, Rimmel, Louis Vuitton, Dior – even Banana Republic.
But now we’ve seen a different Kate Moss, one snorting cocaine through a rolled bank note.
She’s now the face of a supermodel druggie.
As we learned from the brutal police beating of Rodney King, video doesn’t lie. A camera hidden inside a recording studio in London caught Moss doing five lines of cocaine in 40 minutes while chain-smoking and guzzling vodka.
She also was recorded describing experiencing a “whitey” – a state of paranoia – after abusing drugs.
Still photos from the video were published in a London tabloid, forcing Moss to speak the truth. She now admits using cocaine, something that had been rumored for years, while she insisted she never did “Class A” drugs. Scotland Yard is investigating.
The Daily Mirror calls her Cocaine Kate. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, happens to her modeling career.
Already, the discount retailer H&M – which has stores in cities all over the world, though none in Denver – dropped Moss from a planned ad campaign. They originally said they’d keep Moss after she pledged in writing to abide by a company policy that models be “healthy, wholesome and sound.”
Tuesday, the company reversed course, saying “a campaign with Kate Moss is not consistent with H&M’s clear disassociation from drugs.” The next day, Chanel said it will not renew Moss’ contract when it expires in October, and Burberry has canceled a scheduled campaign.
Any other designers and clothing manufacturers linked to the model should drop Kate Moss like a bad habit. Cut her off, cold turkey. She’s reportedly worth more than $28 million, so she doesn’t need the money. Besides, now is a good time for rehab, after Moss publicly stated that she has attended 12-step meetings in the past.
Her first positive move was telling the truth. The second was leaving pop-star boyfriend Pete Doherty, a self-confessed crack and heroin addict. Co-dependency doesn’t work.
Something’s got to give – not just for Moss, but for so many celebrity users who are coddled.
If her career doesn’t take a major hit, it will signal to models everywhere – and to impressionable young people – that abusing drugs is fine, perhaps even trendy.
In the fashion industry, cocaine has been likened to a “performance-enhancing” drug: It keeps models perky even during 18-hour work days.
There’s also the question of whether models abuse drugs and smoke cigarettes to suppress their appetite. Many do, and if that’s the case, shouldn’t the modeling industry put the clamp on this behavior? If the face we see on the cover of a beauty magazine is that of a drug user, shouldn’t we know that’s why she’s stick-thin?
If Moss were smart, she’d get treatment and get her celebrity friends involved in raising awareness about the perils of doing drugs.
Then she could be a real model for young women.
Cindy Rodriguez’s column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays in Scene. Contact her at 303-820-1211 or crodriguez@denverpost.com.
