During New York City’s recent Fashion Week, London’s Daily Mirror had a cover-page picture of Kate Moss cutting lines of cocaine on a clear CD case in a recording studio. The headline said it all: “Cocaine Kate: Supermodel Kate Moss snorts line after line.”
The photo showed her leaning down to inhale the lines of white powder through a rolled-up five pound note. Kate Moss is a world -amous model who is adored by thousands of young girls and women. Thankfully, her distasteful display did not go unnoticed by her employers.
When Kate Moss was first noticed by the public, she was barely a teenager and posing topless for a Calvin Klein ad in the early 1990s. Moss brought back the “waif” look that supermodel Twiggy made famous in the 1970s. Since then, Moss has risen to supermodel status, and, in 2000, she was worth $26.3 million.
Moss is no stranger to drug addiction. In 1998, she checked herself into the Priory Clinic for drug and alcohol abuse.
Moss’ career is now in a sudden freefall. Her contracts with H&M and Burberry were canceled, her longtime relationship with Chanel will not continue past October and she’s been publicly chastised by other employers such as Rimmel, which is considering terminating her contract.
The clothing company H&M told The New York Times that, “if someone is going to be the face of H&M, it is important they be healthy, wholesome and sound.”
And a big hooray to them for dropping Moss like the bad seed that she is.
For someone who makes about $9 million a year, Moss will probably lose most of her high-paying modeling gigs. She has got to be wondering, “Is it worth it?”
Cocaine is a drug known for causing an accelerated heart rate, bursts of energy, a feeling of confidence and, most importantly, loss of appetite. These symptoms would lead anyone to ask – how long has Kate Moss been sniffing cocaine to keep her skinny figure?
What this incident has done is lay bare the ugly skeleton of a fashion industry that has for some time prized hollow cheeks and vacant eyes, stunted prepubescent frames and jutting collar bones from which fabric drapes so beautifully. In other words, the body that is appealing to designers, and thus to consumers, is a body that looks like it has been ravaged by drugs.
Moss issued a statement saying that she has “various personal issues that I need to address and have started taking the difficult, yet necessary, steps to resolve them.” As of last week, Kate Moss had checked herself into the Meadows Clinic in Phoenix, Ariz.
I applaud the fashion companies for discarding Moss like a bad spring fashion line. Her actions are appalling and should reap some kind of punishment. The fashion industry needs to learn that by pressuring models to have such thin bodies, eventually, some will turn to drugs to achieve that body.
The industry needs to redefine the definition of beauty by not using extremely skinny models. In doing this, it may help people, including Kate Moss, realize that beauty cannot be defined by the size of their jeans. Until then, Kate Moss has become a walking D.A.R.E. ad.
Renie Malchow is a senior journalism major. She may be contacted at [email protected].
