Profile: Has Kate Moss come to the end of the catwalk following the recent tabloid exposé, or can she go into rehab and make a glorious comeback, asks Shane Hegarty
Drugs! Lesbian orgies! Supermodels! Rock stars! Secret videos! Parties! Fashion! Nelson Mandela! It's the scandal that has everything. When Kate Moss appeared on the front page of the Mirror with a fiver up her nose, hovering over - or hoovering - a line of white powder, it was open season on the model. Her reaction? To say very little. Moss has made a reputation from saying very little; it's added a certain mystery to her persona, helped make her a fashion icon, something more than a mere clothes horse. But this time her silence was filled by loud headlines, the sound of major brands ditching her services and the whistle of a career in freefall.
Yesterday's newspapers carried news of her apology, with the tabloids treating it with exceptional sensitivity. "Kate: I've Been a Snorty Girl" yelled the Sun. It marked the peak of a story that dragged on for over a week. Where Moss might have been better off making a quick apology and publicly checking herself into rehab, to re-emerge contrite but reformed, she instead hid out while the press enjoyed the chase. Kate Moss has always been a money-spinner. This past week, the newspapers have had their proof.
It was hardly the most shocking allegation. Model takes drugs! Or rather, girlfriend of self-confessed heroin and crack addict is filmed taking what appears to be drugs while in his company! It's unlikely to make you drop your toast in your coffee. The fashion industry was - at first anyhow - quick to rally to her side. It was London Fashion Week, and as the great and the good of the business turned up for the shows and parties they gave the collective impression of an industry that has a fine film of white dust under its nose. Leave her alone, they said. She doesn't deserve this hounding. Meanwhile, the Evening Standard adopted the popular tabloid tactic of swabbing the toilets at the parties and having the results tested for Class A drugs. All six toilets swabbed tested positive. The paper knew who to blame. And it wasn't the plumber.
Moss was, until recently, the face of several leading international brands, including the clothes retailer H&M, teen-orientated make-up brand Rimmel, a Chanel perfume and designers Christian Dior and Burberry. In 2000 alone, she is reputed to have made more than £14 million (€20.65 million). For a 31-year-old who's been in the modelling game since her early teens, she has remained in heavy demand.
Brands book her because she offers something more than simple beauty. She has an edge, more than a hint of decadence, something of the wild child about her, just as her great friend Marianne Faithfull once had. More than that, they book her because she has extraordinary commercial clout. When she wore wellies to Glastonbury this year, it set off an unlikely trend. But now that she's been caught living up to that wild reputation, the brands have decided to dump her.
They were reluctant to do so. Several of the brands were initially cautious in their response, saying that they were monitoring the situation and while they condemned her behaviour they were waiting for Moss's response.
A spokesperson for H&M said that it was willing to give her a second chance as Moss had apologised to the retailer. But by not doing so publicly, it allowed the press to continue to moralise. It had little interest in any sense of the personal tragedy, of a woman obviously failing to deal with her social problems.
Columnists questioned her influence on teenage girls and, worse, what impact this would have on her two-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, the stories became increasingly hysterical. Further allegations included one that she took cocaine and engaged in a lesbian tryst while at a function with Nelson Mandela. It must be pointed out that Mr Mandela was not involved in any of these activities.
Ultimately, it may not have been Moss's actions that were responsible for her losing several contracts, but the pressure of the coverage. Once one brand dropped her, others were sure to follow. Burberry and H&M severed her contract. Rimmel is "reviewing" its contract with her. Chanel says it will not be renewing her contract in October, although it insists with utter seriousness that it has nothing to do with the scandal.
Perhaps it was inevitable that it would come to this. Since her 31st birthday party in January, she and her boyfriend, musician Pete Doherty, have been a hedonistic, bust-ups-and-booze version of Posh and Becks, plastered all over the papers for much of the year.
Sometimes it's been her friends begging her to drop him, occasionally it has involved tales of a break-up. Largely, the stories have been around his very public drug habit. Doherty - former co-frontman with Carl Barat in The Libertines, now leading Babyshambles - has provided acres of newsprint, as journalists have followed him in the hope that he'll either get into a fight, fall over on stage, overdose on drugs, drop dead or do all of these at the same time.
For many in the fashion world, though, Moss's crime this time was simply to get caught, and they mutter sarcastically about how the newspaper industry, of course, is filled with virtuous hacks, none of whom would ever consider putting a few quid towards the Colombian economy. Moss, though, has been in the tabloids' sights for some time. Only two months ago, the Sunday Mirror was ordered to pay substantial damages to Moss for printing unfounded allegations that she collapsed into a drug-induced coma in Barcelona in 2001 after taking large quantities of cocaine. The paper's lawyers are reported to be trying to get the company's money back.
Moss's arrival into fashion modelling was much more like a fairy tale. About to board a plane with her father at JFK airport in 1988, the 14-year-old Moss was spotted by Sarah Doukas, founder of the model agency Storm. By the age of 15, Moss was appearing on the catwalks for designer John Galliano. By 19 she was in her underwear for Calvin Klein and nude for Obsession perfume. She first crossed over into the news pages after a photo shoot in The Face magazine caused a storm over her waif-like, girl-woman look; it proved to be an influential shoot.
Since then Vogue magazine has put her on its cover 10 times (twice this year already, with each seeing a notable jump in sales). According to fashion insiders, Moss has a reputation for being highly professional, and is described by one photographer as being like a chameleon, able to interpret moods instantly and excellent to work with. It has made her extremely wealthy. In September 2000, US magazine Business Age ranked her the fifth highest paid model in the world, with estimated earnings of £14.8 million (almost €22 m). And when Lucian Freud painted a naked and pregnant Moss, which sold for almost €4 million, it confirmed her as an icon of our age.
She lives as one would expect. According to one source, when she stays in her favourite New York hotel she simply arrives and heads straight for her room. And when it's time to leave, there's always someone to pack up for her. There is no awkward stop at reception. There is no luggage to haul. Everything happens around her and for her. In Grazia magazine, a "friend" is quoted as saying that "all her life she's been told that beautiful girls get what they want. She's never had to be accountable for anything."
There have been moments when she has had to face up to reality, most notably in 1998 when she checked herself into the Priory Clinic, publicly citing exhaustion after breaking up with actor Johnny Depp. She later admitted that she had spent much of the decade drunk. "For years I never thought there was anything wrong with it," she told Vogue. "We all used to get drunk at the shows. I just thought I was having a really good time, which I was. But it got too much. There was no normality."
Two years ago, in a Q magazine interview with David Bowie, she said of drugs: "Dabbling is fine, but when I was bang on it, that wasn't a nice time. I was miserable anyway. Drugs enhanced all the misery and I got into this spiral. I still drink, but I don't do drugs."
Regardless of any setbacks, however, she had managed to retain her commercial clout and iconic status. But her relationship with Doherty has been damaging to her image, with the couple falling from party to party in between bust-ups.
Until now she has survived a business notorious for disposability, but she is finally in danger of being thrown out like a frayed mannequin.
Then again, the British press loves a good comeback story. The apology has been made. The rehab may follow. The boyfriend may get dumped. Soon, she'll be "our Kate" again. The contracts may come flooding back. And Kate Moss will once again be known for her edginess.
As long as she's not too edgy, of course.
The Moss File
Who is she? Iconic British cover girl.
Why is she in the news? The Mirror pictured her allegedly snorting five lines of cocaine in 40 minutes, and the ensuing tabloid frenzy has been impossible to avoid.
Most appealing characteristic: Her beauty is more natural than intimidating or plastic.
Least appealing characteristic: Her choice of boyfriend. Her most recent beau, Pete Doherty, is a musician best known for his heroin habit and getting jail time for burglary.
Most likely to say: Very little.
Least likely to say: "I'm calling a press conference. Grab me a megaphone."