40 years of Kate

w. painter Lucian Freud before his death

w. Marc Jacobs and Justin Timberlake

w. Johnny Depp by Annie Leibovitz

w. Johnny Depp

w. Johnny Depp at Cannes

w. Gianni Versace

w. Pete Doherty

— Kate Moss. January 16, 1974

In 1990 Kate Moss was a 16 years old schoolgirl and Corine Day was a wannabe photographer, looking for an unknown adolescent model with whom she could work on something fresh. After looking through a pile of portfolios in an agency one day she came across fourteen year old Kate Moss, sought her out, and became her friend. They did photographs in back yards and sitting rooms until, one day in 1990 when the young model was fifteen, they went to Camber Sands to do a session.

When the images they caught that day appeared in style bible The Face (No. 22 / July 1990 / The 3rd Summer of Lov3), they gave birth to the “grunge look” or “junkie chic”. Those Camber Sands images are generally thought to have changed the course of fashion photography. Day said that:  

“The “grunge look” as people called my style, simply showed girls as they really are, without make-up, styled hair, and flattering light”.

Source: Outsideleft.com 

And that's why I like so much Kate's 90s editorials. She looks natural and spontaneous, the face of youth. I'm also fascinated with her chameleonic looks, the way she manages to look in one editorial all chic, British ladylike, while in others she has that raw, rebel, rock style. I don't talk much about fashion in here, but there is something really special on Kate's photographs. She's worked with some of my favorite photographers, those that have created a style, besides working with great fashion magazines. Like Roversi, von Unwerth, Slimane, Corinne Day, McGinley, Leibovitz or Teller. 

I also appreciate her "musical side" since she has collaborated with some of my favorite musicians. Moss appeared on Oasis singles "Don't Go Away" (1998) and "Fade Away" (1994), and on the Be Here Now album (1997), playing tambourine. She also appeared on the videoclips "Delia's Gone" and "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash, on the Primal Scream video for "Kowalski" and in "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" by The White Stripes directed by Sofia Coppola. She has also provided vocals for songs by Primal Scream (the 2003 version of "Some Velvet Morning"), Babyshambles ("La Belle et la Bête") and The Lemonheads ("You're a Dirty Robot"). And prior to breaking up with Pete Doherty, she co-wrote four songs on Babyshambles' second album Shotter's Nation. 

Happy Birthday to her. And you know what they say: Kate Moss will live forever.

Ph.: Bruce Weber, Hedi Slimane, Paolo Roversi, Ellen von Unwerth, Craig McDean, Corinne Day, Ryan McGinley, Sante D'Orazio, Annie Leibovitz, Juergen Teller, Arthur Elgort, Nick Knight, Lance Staedler and Mario Testino. 

Blow - Up (1966)

Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film “Blow-Up” has become an iconic portrait of London in the ’60′s. The film follows Thomas,  a self-centered photographer in ’60′s Swinging London, as he inadvertently witnesses a murder. This character was based on the famous photographer David Bailey, brilliantly portrayed by David Hemmings.

(David Bailey, he captured and helped create the 'Swinging London' of the 1960s. He is regarded as one of the best British photographers. He was the main photographer of Vogue, he married Catherine Deneuve, and photographed celebrities and socialites including Terence Stamp, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton and Andy Warhol, among others).

Antonioni gives us an insight look into the lifestyle of young, rich and beautiful people who party all day and all of the night. Thomas drives a Rolls Royce, is surrounded by models, and gives a lesson in style wearing an amazing dark green velvet jacket that looks exactly like the one that Louis Garrel wears in The Dreamers (I bet Bertolucci loves Blow-Up).

(Louis Garrel in The Dreamers)

The film also stars supermodel Veruschka, who looks like some sort of Russian countess while she's inmortalised by Hemming's camera in a really sensual and erotic way; the flawless and stylish Vanessa Redgrave, as a mysterious woman; and the lovely Jane Birkin. This was Birkin's debut, as she plays a young wild girl, some sort of Thomas' groupie, along with Gillian Hills (famous for her Zou bisou bisou, that you can watch by clicking here). The two girls get into a naive ménage à trois with Hemming's character, and the result is one of the funniest scenes of the film:

Blow-Up also has a notable appearance by the Yardbirds: Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Keith Relf perform “Stroll On” (a.k.a. Train Kept a Rollin) at a crowded venue, in one of the scenes of the film:

Overall, this is a really great movie. Not the typical thriller you might be expecting, but a beautiful piece magistrally directed by Antonioni where the silences, the gestures and the looks between the characters become the main stars (it's no wonder that Sofia Coppola mentioned Antonioni as one of her influences). He manages to show us a brilliant portrait of London on that era, a remarkable film that won the Grand Prix at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival. 

Ph.: eight london, a fantasy, blow-up film stills