Kate Moss reveals ‘awful’ abuse she got from parents of anorexic girls in heroin-chic era

Kate Moss has revealed parents of anorexic children gave her ‘awful’ abuse for her heroin chic aesthetic in the 1990s.

The 50-year-old supermodel popularised the skinny look in her 1993 Vogue cover shoot when she was just 19, and the trend lasted throughout the noughties.

People would approach Kate in the streets and accuse her of promoting eating disorders, the model recalled in a new Disney+ documentary about her life.

‘Parents would come up to me and say, “My daughter’s anorexic”. It was awful,’ she said.

‘I think because I was just skinny, and people weren’t used to seeing skinny. But if I’d been more buxom, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. It’s just that my body shape was different from the models before me.’

Describing the shoot with photographer Corinne Day, Kate said: ‘I just felt really good. The whole shoot, I felt really comfortable, I loved creating the images. You know, it wasn’t glamorous. It was in my flat in London.’

‘Our bedroom was like a bedsit. That’s the kind of fashion I liked. It was much simpler.’

The original photo from 1993 is now hanging in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in the documentary – In Vogue: The 90s, which is out on September 13 – fashion editor Catherine Kasterine said that the public ‘were not ready’ and ‘absolutely appalled’ at the lingerie shot.

‘Immediately, the pictures were completely vilified and slammed. Perhaps we’d underestimated how that look had in our minds been quite normal,’ she said.

Vogue editor Dame Anna Wintour reflected: ‘That look – very undernourished-looking model – made people uncomfortable.

‘Many of us at Vogue worried about heroin chic or anorexia, all the things that are associated with that look. It got to such a fever pitch. I remember physically being in the White House when the Clinton administration took the issue on.’

As well as comments she’s since distanced herself from – ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ – Kate caused controversy for a different reason in 1992, for simply posing topless with former rapper Mark Wahlberg in an advert for Calvin Klein jeans.

She told the documentary: ‘It was quite overwhelming. I was 18, you know, he was a big superstar rapper, and I still felt like I was just a girl from Croydon. They asked me to be topless. It was just a lot of people on set, a lot of men. I did feel vulnerable.’

The documentary has a very starry array of speakers, which include former Vogue editor Edward Enninful and fellow supermodel Naomi Campbell, as well as actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Stella McCartney also chats about being the daughter of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, and the advantage this afforded her at fashion school.

Describing her graduation show from Central St Martin’s in London, Stella recalled: ‘All the other students were choosing their models, then they were getting their mates. I had mates, but my mates were the supermodels. 

‘I was like, “Everyone’s gonna hate me if I do that…” but life’s too short, and they were genuinely my mates. Those girls were the hottest girls on the planet. They were doing every show in every city, and they did a little college fashion show for me. That was amazing.’

Stream In Vogue: The 90s ­exclusively on Disney+ on Friday September 13.

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