Dress Like Kate Moss in Top Shop
The Supermodel Takes her Taste to the Mass-ionistas
Kate Moss will be consulting on a new line for British fast fashion outlet Topshop. Although it will be designed in house, Moss will add input at every stage.
Recognizing her status as an international style icon, British trendy-but-affordable-fashion emporium Topshop has partnered up with model & chica-about-town (& various countries) Kate Moss. Starting with spring 2007 – lasting for an undisclosed number of seasons - Kate Moss for Topshop will be carried in the company’s 300+ stores and online. "We want to build this into a global brand," Sir Philip Green, owner of Topshop's parent, Arcadia Group plc, recently told WWD in an interview. "She is a fashion icon in terms of the U.K., probably the best-known model, and is what Topshop is all about in terms of fashion. Our customers identify with her."
The collection will include clothing, accessories and shoes/footwear. Insiders estimate potential sales revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars, putting the line at the same level as Sweetface (Jennifer Lopez) which brings in $200 million annually, and Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. which is targeted at around $100 for year one. While Moss will appear in some of the ads, the campaigns will showcase other models, underscoring her advisory – rather than hands-on – role in the creative direction. "She will come in for a few hours every other day or so, set the inspiration for the line, and then our designers will interpret that," Green said. "She knows what the trends are, she likes shopping, and she will provide the ethos as to where we should position the line. She will be in the engine room helping to steer the collection."
While other celeb lines have dubious credibility with the fashion insider crowd – along the lines of "just because you sing doesn’t mean you can design" - Moss is acknowledged amongst fashionistas to be in possession of flawless taste & style. She was credited with single-handedly bringing back the skinny jeans, and is a global trendsetter that seems to have an uncanny ability to ferret out – and pounce on – the next big fashion thing.
