Bravo Nick Knight! I saw some of the publicity shots for Topshop for UK Vogue on the web. I loved the tones and richness of skin color in the photos, and Kate looked great she worked her butt off on this photoshoot. How many hours did that shoot take? Hope you don't mind my asking....most of us would never have a chance to work with a world class model such as Kate Moss, how was it like working with her? What makes her stands out from the other top models? That photoshoot was more specific than usual since it's about Kate Moss for Topshop-how did you try to establish the mood for this shoot?
Fashion
The designers, the models, the shows and of course, the clothesWhat do you anticipate? Do you think it's going to be like pieces in The Gap-which is not really fashion forward-cause Kate's wardrobe isn't about what's ahead, she wears the a few trendy but mostly classic pieces, so it's not going to have innovative cuts and fabrication like Stella MacCartney. Your thoughts on Kate as a "Designer".
Thank you KaWai,
Kate always 'works her butt off'.
The shoot would start at around 10 in the morning and ended at around 7or 8 in the evening.I normally don't see the model in front of my lens untill 2ish.
On this particular shoot we changed the lighting from the lighting we used for the cover,to something approaching the sort of paparazzi/snapshot/club picture that you might see in old pictures at Studio 54 for example,and this was very much at Kate's request.Kate is always very involved with the images that are produced on a shoot,always checking the polaroids to see how to inprove her poses and gestures,but this time she had a very clear idea what she wanted to see and requested a specific lighting.
The reasons to work with Kate are too numerous to mention,however for a start she is incredibly hard working and bright.She has the skill that great models have of being able to understand the narrative of the piece of clothing ,much in the same way an actress interprets a script.In fact a good way to understand what a model does is to see them as a mixture of actress and sports person.
The physical demands on my shoots and I suspect many other photographers are very great indeed.
Giselle spent 6 or so hours in foam for a 4 day Dior shoot ,Angela Lindvall 8 hours a day in a freezing cold rain machine again for Dior,and Kate sat and swung backwards and forwards on a swing in the studio for 6 hours for the cover of Visionaire magazine.If you don't think that is hard ,just try it sometime.And remember all the time looking beautiful.
Another reason for me to keep on working with Kate is she is incredibly kind and generous of spirit.And funny.
She also happens to be incredibly beautiful ,but its not a plastic beauty free of imperfections but a real beauty full of the funny things that make us all fall in love .Perfection is so unattractive,I have always found the mistakes in life so much more exciting,the quirks,the faux pas,the discord ,the people that get things wrong have always inspired me. Anyway this is rambling off topic,you want to know about Kate.
She has always been incredibly good at making the clothes she models look just how the designer hopes they might look ,she breathes life into them rather than just wearing them.She arrives on time ,she works incredibly hard ,is friendly and funny and she makes the clothes look brilliant.
There is a lot more but I think you get my point.
In reply to nick knight:
Thank you so much, I just wish there are more written about Kate Moss as a model who is really good at her craft, the way good articles write about good actors and their crafts instead of all the fictional stuff the tabloids create. The truth is always much more interesting.
In reply to nick knight:
The report from Nick Knight here gives a great insight in to the passion and emotion that goes in to a shoot. It also gives the impression that Kate is a genuine and warm person with a lot of strength.
Well done Nick.
What a great and wonderful way to describe her....I hope this will help people to have a more positive attitude and respect towards her and her talents and to remember that you cannot judge and haven't got the right to judge just by tabloid's gossip......or personal gossip for that matter....what counts is a person's talents and the positive attitude ...
The camera never lies about a person's aura and charisma......a very sublime personality and true class.... and not to mention her personal eye for aesthetics........and intelligence.....
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
What do you expect to see in the collection? Do you think it has staying power and leg to evolve into ongoing collections? Since Kate's clothes already are not original designs, but about vintage, and Balenciaga bags, Berkins bag, ballet flats, skinny jeans which originally designed by other designers, every piece is from somebody else's brain-except that Kate styled them in her taste, why buy when one could find original pieces already in vintage shops, like real Halston or real used Balenciaga bags on E-Bay? Would Kate's magic touch, the thing that's unique about her own taste-got mass marketed and becomes less precious because of this TopShop deal? The untouchable thing becomes a rack of the same vests in a shop, for 20 pounds, would that in the end makes people tired of her mystique? The magic of trying to look like Kate Moss is that you have to find pieces of those items from different sources-vintage shops, dollar stores, boutiques, and then try to style it and add an attitude-it's all very deliberate yet trying to make it seems unforced. To be able to get all her pieces so easily, and then just put together as is-since they will be merchandised that way, immediately takes away the magic of trying to get the Kate's look. These are just random thoughts on the topic.
...it's another business deal, in my humble opinion, and I'm sure the fashion conscious public is aware of that....an strategy... , sometimes it can work...sometimes it doesn't...only fortune tellers can tell......
But having said that......her input is about styling as you rightly mentioned it, we cannot expect otherwise ....on the other hand her input will lend it the glamour, magic and appeal she has and projects on the covers of top fashion magazines that circulate from San Francisco across Europe all the way to Japan..and then down to Tahiti across Cape Town.. all the way around South America and back to London.....she is authenticating the collection...and for many people that is just a way of having the chance to be able to become part of that magic and allure.
The designers of the vintage you mentioned are long gone therefore I do not believe people really care about them that much, unless you happen to be an avid vintage collector...or a fashionista and not to mention that hardly anyone in the public would know who Halston or Balenciaga were or did for a living if they ever heard their names .....and as for that matter not everyone really knows who the top designers are right now ...unless you are called Karl Lagerfeld because of Chanel .....or John Galliano because of Dior....or Calvin Klein or Stella because of H&M ... as some of the very very few examples....and ask anyone who " V&R" are and they tink you are talking about ' Vinegar and Radish '..... but almost the whole world knows who Kate Moss is...so in the end it is not a bad idea for the industry to profit from....that is called... unsurpassable appealing power and a very important one in fashion.....
Let's give her the time and space and she might surprise everyone...........!!
THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
19/3/2007
BY SUZY MENKES
Kate Moss: Top of the shops
........' Moss could have the winning formula — if she is prepared to give the Topshop line enough attention — in between shooting advertising campaigns for Burberry and Versace, Longchamp bags, Rimmel lipstick and Agent Provocateur underwear. For, as a model, she knows the score: that the test is not how the clothes appear when she is projecting them with camera-friendly charisma. It is how they look and feel on lesser mortals who want to buy into the dream. "
In reply to Galileo's Universe:
The brilliant step from the start was Kate teamed with TopShop, which I think is a cooler shop than H&M, and it's more her, the image of TopShop-cool interpretation of high fashion looks in affordable prices. I think Kate is very clever to make the system work for her, and try to do things on her terms, instead of letting the system chew her up and spit her out. It's nice to know that Irina will be modeling TS's Look Book. Irina's career might really skyrocket after this gig. Barneys is picking up KM collection, so it's a vote of cofidence in terms of its' quality.