I look to Kate

I am Kate Moss's secret stalker. I am obsessed with her. I think I'm just like everyone else because we all wish we were one of her best friends - but we're not, so all we can do is wonder what that must be like.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Grazia UK, 13 January 2014

Kate Moss turns 40 this Thursday.

Ordinarily, that kind of news would induce a bit of a gloomy episode on my part. When one of your fashion icons, who fully deserves that often hackneyed label, advances in age and only a five-year gap separates you, cold hard reality reminds you are no spring chicken yourself. Where has the time disappeared to?

But instead, as Kate (I can't do 'Mossy' - way too impersonal for someone so enigmatic) prepares to celebrate reaching this fabulous milestone, reportedly on Necker Island, I am instead full of mirth, buoyant and commemorative. I am chilling the bubbles, dusting off the credit card, sharpening the old black kohl, digging out my skinny jeans and wearing a vintage cape in her honour. You can bet Kate will not let something as silly as becoming a quadragenarian get in her way of out-partying everyone with conviction and looking completely stunning in the process. Standard.

Kate has been at the top of her game since her iconic cover of The Face in 1990, photographed by the late Corinne Day. I have followed her style, her life, her loves and her London partying religiously ever since. She remains an inspiration to me, and if the truth be told, a mild obsession as I try my hardest to emulate her look - commensurate to my bank account and day job. She has crammed quite a lot into her 39 years to date and I am fascinated by the multi faceted roles that she plays. Supermodel, muse, designer, mother, lover, wife, friend, Londoner.

She remains suitably mysterious and elusive, keeping a tantalising silence and letting the photos do all the talking. She made the decision not to talk to the press, to never complain and to never explain. This is wonderfully refreshing in the age where younger models incessantly tweet, share and Instagram their selves to over-exposure. Conversely, Kate keeps us guessing, wanting more, secretly Googling, scouring Vogue and YouTube for the latest sighting to get a glimpse of what she is wearing, how she is wearing it, where she is.

Kate is my life / style comparator, my benchmark, my litmus paper if you will.  I look to Kate when I am considering my outfit choice in direct ratio to my age. Whether my clothes, behaviours and actions are age-appropriate if you like. For example:

• Question: Am I too old to wear leather trousers/shorts/jackets?
• Question: Will I look a total berk wearing over-sized sunglasses during the day?
• Question: Is my skirt too short?
• Question: Should I STILL be going to festivals, planning my outfit months in advance and wearing shorts that risk minor bum-exposure?
• Question: Should my skinny jeans be banished to the back of the wardrobe now, in favour of something a bit, um, looser?
• Question: Have I drunk too much given it is 3pm in the afternoon? On Sunday.
• Question: Am I too old to have numerous piercings, and in particular a helix piercing on both sides?
• Question: Will people think I am ridiculous, shallow and a bit eccentric for falling out of a bar whilst wearing a sparkly 1920s cape?
• Question: Should I now be shopping in Hobbs/Reiss/Coast rather than hunting around vintage stores, wearing gig t-shirts, skinny jeans and studded boots?
• Question: Should I save for a sofa rather than going away on holiday again /taking a city break?

Answers:

No. Kate would do it, or is doing it now, right this minute. Proceed.

That is the thing with Kate. She wouldn't even hesitate, she wouldn't care if people looked, nudged their mate, tutted, raised their eyes to heaven. She would just go ahead and do it. Admittedly, she is a supermodel with a sizeable wedge of cash in the bank and invested in fancy properties. Yes, she has a killer body and a hairdresser, stylist, makeup artist and dermatologist at her beck and call; but you see this is about attitude, this is about being.

Part of the appeal is that Kate permanently looks like she is on a bit of a bender. She is bohemian, debauched Rock 'n' roll hedonism immortalised. She is just too cool. She is incredibly beautiful with glowing skin and hair, yet it is her imperfections that make her even more stunning. She has always been a bit of an exception to the rule; just slightly below the standard model height, drinks and smokes liberally, possibly does not get that much sleep - but the endurable Kate carries on regardless to spectacular effect - and so she should. She is Kate Moss.

Twenty five fabulous years have come and gone.

Happy Birthday Kate, may the party continue long into the night (and the next day).

My favourite shots of Kate can be found in Vogue's Style File - Kate Moss.

 

Revenge Wears Prada

Tonight Material Whirl had the honour of attending a very special Q&A with Lauren Weisberger, the author of The Devil Wears Prada that was made into a $27 million-grossing smash-hit film starring Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and the fabulous Stanley Tucci to name but a few.

I had won a prize via Grazia magazine to be part of an audience at the very glamorous Charlotte Street Hotel to listen to Weisberger being interviewed by Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian. She has penned a sequel, Revenge Wears Prada, and I was curious to discover her motivation for bringing the marvellously monstrous Miranda Priestly back into our lives, immortalised so skilfully by Streep. Oh, how I had missed her.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MqiHurbexE]

It's hard to believe but Weisberger wrote The Devil Wears Prada ten years ago. Where on earth have those years gone? She wrote the book at the very impressive age of 24, a year after working as an assistant to the legendary Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of the gigantic US Vogue. She admits that she never envisaged that the novel she started in a writing class would be turned into a book, let alone a phenomenally successful one. This is the stuff that dreams are made of.

We were skilfully taken by Aitkenhead on an interesting journey with the very unpretentious and self-deprecating Weisberger, who seemed very at ease and definitely the kind of girl you could go and have a beer with. She revealed she remains both fascinated and traumatised by her time at Vogue, and who can blame her? When asked what advice she would give to those who read The Devil Wears Prada and still want to go into fashion, she replied 'Read it again'!

From a career perspective, Weisberger said that she loved the writing aspect of being at Vogue, although more the travel and food and less the fashion, and gave some very useful career advice for anyone who had ever worked for shall we say, a challenging boss - work hard and keep at it, it may be painful now but it might only be for a short time and you'll soon move ahead. With the devilish Miranda in mind, when asked what she herself is like as an employer, she joked that she spends a great deal of time trying to get her team to love her. She also emphasised that it is mandatory to be successful and kind, and in real life it is possible to be a decent human being and good at what you do. Some very useful advice and one a lot of successful women could do with taking note of.

She remained very gracious when asked for an insight into life behind Vogue's glamorous doors and would not be drawn into revealing anything defamatory about Ms Wintour herself. Instead she hinted that the 24-hour nature of the role was crazy with lots of things required THIS SECOND or face dire consequences, but admitted this was not particular to that one office. She also lightheartedly revealed that when she made the decision to leave the assistant role, she had to work up the nerve to approach Wintour, explaining 'you don't approach Anna. She approaches you'. Wintour though politely thanked her for her help and Weisberger admitted there was no huge dramatic ending as there was a modicum of civility to maintain. Interestingly, she also described how working for Vogue meant a complete immersion into that one environment and nothing else, which was even more apparent years later when she watched The September Issue (which she felt was more about Grace's story) and realised she had no idea how talented Coddington actually was.

Weisberger was funny and incredibly down to earth and at the end of the Q&A there was the chance to meet her and come away with her new book signed. We had a brief chat, she was very friendly and I plucked up the courage to ask for a photo to accompany this here blog post, which she happily agreed to. Unfortunately my plans were scuppered at the last second, as the Grazia team said they had to be the bad guys and ask for no photos due to the every growing queue of people waiting to meet her. They weren't the bad guys at all, on the contrary, they were lovely.

I found myself in a great audience of interesting, friendly and stylish women and as I made my way home through London town, goodie bag in tow, I felt inspired and motivated to keep writing and to keep on working hard, no matter what the circumstances.

In the words of the unforgettable Miranda Priestly and with a dismissive hand gesture to go with it, That's all.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3a5BsmxNJ0]

Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger is out now (Simon & Schuster, £14) from all good independent book shops.