Good Kate Vs Bad Kate
There was quite the hoo-ha about Kate Moss’ recent cover shoot for W Magazine. Oh look! She’s in virginal white (that must be ‘good’ Kate). A-ha! Now she’s in black (that’s ‘bad’ Kate, right? RIGHT?)
And don’t get me wrong. Photographer Steve Klein will be relieved to know I give his work the thumbs up here (‘phew!’, eh Steve?) but… I found it a leetle bit predictable. You know, the whole good Vs bad; black Vs white; yin Vs yang thing going on here. *YAWN*
The accompanying interview by Will Self compares Mossie to Dorian Grey, the protagonist in the Oscar Wilde novel who sells his soul to stay young while an ageing portrait in his attic reminds him of the effects of his debauched lifestyle. Eh? Maybe Self was desperately trying not to put ‘Kate’ and ‘habit’ in the same sentence…
Kate Moss seems to have always been with us – and to have always been as she is. Yet the truth is that she’s 38, twice married [sic], and the mother of a 9-year-old girl. Her life has been a slalom through the toxicities of fame and success.
I think first of Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde’s amorality tale, who looks upon the portrait of himself in the fullest fruition of youth and wishes that it would age in his stead.
Dark Moss and Light Moss. Bad Kate and Good Little Katie—simple dichotomizing is not what this dyad deserves. I look at the pictures of Moss dressed in black and think perhaps they’re of a great beauty meditating upon her own inner ugliness.
So, whilst I found it quite interesting for about a nanosecond, I couldn’t help but think Kate Moss has already shown us her two opposing sides – through the medium she knows best – fashion:
Read Will Self’s article for W Magazine in full here and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you want. Or maybe you don’t give a shit, like me.
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