I’ll never forget the first time I saw Kate Moss in the flesh. It was late at night, and we were in the subterranean China Tang in the Dorchester, where Kate was draping her form on the bar while wearing black skinny jeans and a see-through mesh top with strategic sequins sewn into the fabric. In her hand, a glass of wine. In her back pocket, cigarettes.
I was young– 15 maybe – and impressionable, and so found myself quite astonished by the sight of this hugely famous, toweringly beautiful woman who clearly thought nothing of shredding that rulebook in which it says women and models especially must only drink water and live monastically to preserve youth. I remember thinking that attitude, her signature don’t-give-a-f**k thing was pretty brilliant, made her more attractive and appealing.
Via subsequent encounters, those of friends, and the ever-present column inches devoted to Moss antics, I gathered that Kate doesn’t really give a hoot about tradition. She wasn’t a traditional model, being shorter and more inclined towards nights out than most. She’s wasn’t a traditional role model, wildly engaging in whatever she fancied engaging in, apologising for missteps infrequently if at all, and she certainly wasn’t a traditional wellness guru, having launched Cosmoss after being famous among friends for being able to hold a prodigious amount of liquor.
But here we are, Kate in her wellness era, now in the wake of a breakup from her longterm boyfriend Nikolai Von Bismarck, and I wonder if the old Kate, that London nightlife savant, might make a comeback.
The signs are all there. First, we know that breakups do tend to encourage a little loosening of routine, and once back in the bosom of friends, shenanigans are more likely to occur. Kate has form in this area, with even the most cursory look through photos of her on nights out revealing that Party Kate is invariably flanked by a selection of friends who generally include Stella McCartney, Meg Mathews, Fran Cutler, Sadie Frost, and Charlotte Tilbury.
The second piece of evidence that Kate may well add some big nights out to the equation alongside meditating and drinking herbal tea? History, which, as we all know, is prone to repeating itself. Kate Moss especially is a woman of phases. First, Calvin Klein Moss, in which a doe-eyed Kate strutted around all cheekbones and the world knew little of her propensity to party.
Next, The Johnny Depp years. Here, things become a little chequered, with arrests and arguments and diamond necklaces gifted from between Depp’s bum cheeks. Then to motherhood, Kate giving birth to Lila Grace, who got Kate’s legs and colouring but, apparently, a rather different temperament, the Saffy to Kate’s Edina. Jefferson Hack, Lila’s Dad, similarly seemed a mellow sort, and Kate’s time with him was quite free of drama.
Kate wildest phase by far was her time with the Libertines’ Pete Doherty. A man who frequently appeared in public under the influence, Kate followed suit, dangling out of windows, joining him on stage, and, eventually, being filmed snorting five lines of coke on a video hidden in a recording studio. Kate bounced back, splitting from Pete, announcing a Topshop collaboration, marrying The Kills singer Jamie Hince, dialling down the frequency of appearances emerging from bars.
From there: divorce, and then Nikolai, who is said to be teetotal and rather sedate in his leanings, which it seems has rubbed off on Moss. While her good friends tell me she always liked to retreat to a sanctuary and chill after staying out late, there’s no refuting that Wellness Kate is a vastly different creature from the Kate we all found a bit joyously irreverent and naughty during the noughties. With Nikolai gone, will she bubble to the surface once more? That remains to be seen, but if Kate does decide to streak around London in her finest, there will be many people cheering her on, thrilled to see that 50-year-old Kate can still do break up partying like nobody else.
