October 03, 2005

How do drugs make one not a fashion icon?

It's been about two weeks since Kate Moss was exposed of snorting drugs by English tabloids. In less than a week, Kate lost three huge campaigns from Burberry, Chanel and H&M. But lucky for her, Rimmel London, the high street makeup brand is sticking with her.


I know this is old news, but it really makes you think. In the past two years, Kate has been hailed above and beyond all models and celebs to be the ultimate fashion icon. Despite being thirty, the modelling contracts kept rolling in. All fashion insiders, including editors, designers and photographers all proclaimed their love for Kate; and no doubt of course that we all talked and tried to dress like her (directly by immitating her, or indirectly by buying clothes from high street shops that were inspired by her.)

Doesn't it make you wonder, how does the fact that Kate takes drugs affect her fantastic style? Now that we know the ugly side of her life, are her clothes and accessories not still just as fabulous as before? It's Kate's personal life she does drugs. Obviously taking drugs is not a good thing and she should seek help (as she is now,) but is it right for all the fashion houses to just drop her? It's not like she looks physically different. And isn't that the main purpose of models? -To look good and together with art and photography, express the theme of the season's clothes or mood of the perfume?

OK, so I understand Kate is not just a model but sort of a celeb. But when I look at this season's Burberry ads now, I feel the same as I looked at it a month ago -that a) wow, the coat looks amazing and unaffordable; and b) Burberry decided to use their signature model again, and rightly so!


I've never had much feelings towards Naomi Campbell before, but it's times like these where you can see who are 'real' people and who are 'fake'. Naomi, who has been a good friend of Kate's since the supermodel era, expressed her support to Kate at a press conference last week. A few editors have also commented on how they still think Kate is a great model. But a little too late now.

I just hope Kate gets out of rehab soon and models again. Burberry ads will be weird without her. Even tabloids have turned boring now that there is no great fashion icon for us to ooh and ahh over. And no, even though Nicole Richie, Linsay Lohan and Sienna Miller dress well, they are not orignial fashion icons! (The first two have stylists for G's sake!)

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i think the attitude that models are just "lifelike dolls" for us to ooh and aaah over, is exactly why the world of modeling is as screwed up as it is. they are PEOPLE. human beings with feelings, emotions and insecurities...just like us. and im sure as most people already know, cocaine is a drug that many people take part in solely because of the fact that it kills your appetite and keeps you thin. ("thin" being the magic word for models.) until we stop treating them as super-humans, and more like the rest of us, they will continue to feel extraordinary pressure to be perfect. i personally feel that losing her contracts is just the kick in the butt she needed to help herself. i mean, in the "real world" would your employer want to keep you on his staff if he knew you were on drugs? no, because your behavior would change, your attitude would be affected, etc etc etc. which would then lead to you missing work and slacking on the job.

i think kate got exactly what she deserved, and i for one hope they take that poor child away from her. talk about a demented upbringing....

10/04/2005 5:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello,

I jsut stumbled on this blog thanks to google personal homepage... and i absolutely love it!!!.. but for some reason it runs off the page a bit on the left so it's hard to read... is that just me?? it doesn't do if for other pages...

thought i would let you know in case it's not jsut on my computer...

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10/04/2005 6:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with the first comment in the fact that Kate did deserve to be pulled from the ads. Drugs (especially the hard ones like cocaine) should not be taken lightly. As a spokesperson for a product or brand, Kate is not only representing herself, but also representing the feelings and position of the brand as well. If the advertisers were to leave her on their campaign, it would be as if they were condoning her actions. In the real world, we all have consequences we have to face if we do something wrong or unacceptable...the same should hold true for celebrities.

10/04/2005 11:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I partly agree with the person who first commented as for the need for an exemplar 'punishment' for what Kate did (cocaine is a BAD thing, no matter what). On the other hand, I think: Kate has always been the 'beautiful and damned' super-model, so her appeal is in a certain sense connected to this idea of 'trouble' (she began her career with all those rumors about anorexia). It is right to punish and condemn what she has done, but I really don't know if she continues to have the same appeal in the future, after all this.

10/04/2005 10:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The fashion houses and advertisers didn't drop Kate Moss because she does coke. If designers refused to use models who did drugs, there would be no more models. They dropped her because it would look bad for them if they didn't. Everyone knows about this dirty little underbelly of the fashion world, but no one wants to be seen publicly condoning it. It wasn't about morality, it wasn't about job performance (if you have to wear a bikini in the snow all day, drugs might help!), it was simply about money. You can't market a cokehead in Middle America, and that's exactly what H&M was afraid of.

10/05/2005 5:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Back in the day when models were anonoymous and the clothes and designers were the stars, the models could pretty much do what they wanted and no one knew. Now days they are a brand, they sell themselves and they represent the brand they are under contract to.

With so many young people buying name brands these days, no company in their right mind would want to knowingly be associated with a representative that has a substance abuse problem. I don't feel society can condone or excuse drug or alcohol abuse because someone is a model/actor/dancer etc.
If it was any other person in a normal workaday job they would not be hired/or if working they would be fired.

At the same time I hope that Ms. Moss is able to beat her demons this time and come back to her career.

10/06/2005 12:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it’s ridiculous to assume that ALL models are on drugs. Obviously Kate having drug issues has nothing to do with her great style. But she is a role model for many people – and having the pressures to be stick thin is a lame excuse. Come on now, everyone undergoes pressure (doctors, lawyers, teachers, public figures), but we don’t all do drugs either, do we? I know all the people I mentioned don’t have to be skinny to keep their job, but aren’t we being kind of foolish to assume you HAVE TO do drugs to stay skinny? H&M had to let her go, because they can’t condone what she has been publicly sighted doing (now if no one, saw her that would be another story). For them it’s not an issue of morality, its brand representation – and rightly so, um they are a business!! Whatever the reason, she now has to get help to save her career. I’m sure that Kate knows that she is in a business where image matters most –I doubt she was terribly shocked by the consequences.
Nevertheless, this is such a fabulous site; I only wish I came across it sooner!

10/06/2005 1:23 AM  
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10/08/2005 10:33 PM  
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