Kate Moss

We were thinking about writing a post dedicated to Kate for a long time and finally It's been realized as her birthday was only two days ago!

The fact that we would like to have the whole post about her is because she's an exceptional person, and what's more she's British and fabulous!

Kate Moss (Katherine Ann Moss) was born 16 January 1974 in Addiscombe, Croydon, London. She is an English model who have appeared on over 50 magazine covers and in magazine spreads. Kate Moss is especially known for her trademark slim figure, prominent cheek bones, high-profile relationships and party lifestyle.

If you didn't know her and have seen her for the first time you wouldn't say she's a model material. She's only 5 ft 7.5 in (1.72 m) and doesn't really have a face of a model (especially at the times when she was starting her career - early 90s). The thing that helped her to get into modelling is definietely her personality.

 

Moss was discovered in 1988 at the age of 14 by Sarah Doukas, the founder of Storm Model Management, at JFK Airport in New York City, after a holiday in the Bahamas. Moss's career began when Corinne Day shot black-and-white photographs of her, styled by Melanie Ward, for British magazine The Face when she was 16, in a photo shoot titled "The 3rd Summer of Love". Moss then went on to become the "anti-supermodel" of the 1990s in contrast to the "supermodels" of the moment, such as Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell, who were known for their curvaceous and tall figures.

Being a famous and desirable model she had a drug problems what caused the big brands to remove her from their campaigns. But she managed to came back. And this is another reason she is an exceptional person and a model. What's more she managed to have her own brand - Top Shop which is doing very well. 

A £1.5m ($2.8m) 100% gold statue was made of Moss in 2008 as part of a British Museum exhibition. Entitled Siren, the 50 kg (110 lb) hollow statue was made by Marc Quinn, who described Moss as "the ideal beauty of the moment". The statue is said to be the largest gold statue to be created since the era of Ancient Egypt.

Quinn had previously unveiled a painted-bronze, life-size sculpture of Moss in a contorted yoga pose, titled Sphinx.

Knowing the story of Kate you should be more confident about yourselves! And even if you don't look like the super models nowadays it doesn't mean that by entering into the industry you will change the pattern and the way models should look like!

Plus-Size Models

 

The world of fashion for years has been reserved for super slim models. That's why everytime some magazine or a company decides to hire plus-size models for their shoot, people pay more attention to it and talk about it. Usually they are thankful that someone have decided to show realistic women on the advert. The above photo comes from french edition of Elle Magazine.

It's been headline-grabbing stuff over here in the UK, following on from the furore caused by Mark Fast's decision to use curvier models in his catwalk show for London Fashion Week last year. It seems that while we're tiring of emaciated teenage models parading around in designer gear, we're not sure what to make of larger ladies doing the same either.

 

So, what do you think? Is there a place for plus-size women in the fashion industry? Is it progress, or is it a publicity stunt to attract more readers- and morever, do these readers want to see it? How would you react if UK Elle did the same?

Velvet d'Amour, a US model who lives in Paris, has conquered both fashion and TV at size 28. She has been a catwalk model for Gaultier and Galliano and is now a popular TV commentator.

Shops and websites for larger women are becoming highly visible. Parisian fashion writer Sakina, whose blog Saks and the City is widely read, told the Observer that the Elle cover was a "wonderful initiative".

"Fashion has created a gap between itself and real women. From skinny, to curvy, to fat, the population is made of very different bodies and the contrast between the women represented in fashion or advertising has been so important that most women don't feel good about themselves. I, too, have had body issues: I tried to fight what I genetically am because I always thought that being beautiful could never mean being curvy" - Velvet said.

To introduce you more to the fashion world of curvier models see below the top 3 plus-size top models:

 

1. Whitney Thompson

Season 10 of America’s Next Top Model was when plus-size models went prime time. That’s because a 5’10”, blond bombshell in a size 10 dress beat out scores of bony, generic wannabe models to become the first plus-size girl to win. As part of her prize package, the Jacksonville native won a contract with Elite Model Management and a sponsorship deal with CoverGirl.

Even though ANTM host TyraBanks suggested Whitney Thompson was more of a “full-figured model” than a plus-size one, the zesty Floridian has already broken down barriers and paved the way to mainstream success for bigger girls who dream of the glamorous life of a fashion model.

 

2. Chloe Marshall

This vivacious Brit is proof of just how far plus-size models have come. No longer content to grace magazine pages or fashion runways, they are now invading beauty pageants too. Chloe Marshall is a finalist for the Miss England title, already having beat out seven presumably skinny girls for the title of Miss Surrey. Miss England will be crowned in July 2008, but Chloe Marshall already has a juicy contract with agency Models Plus to fall back on. She oozes confidence, is as bubbly as they come and has a bright future ahead of her, win or lose.

3. Toccara Jones

 

This statuesque black beauty completely obliterates the tired preconceived notion of blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty. She first came into the public eye as a contestant on America’s Next Top Model. Competing against frail, starving waifs, the 5’7” citizen of Dayton more than held her own, claiming the show’s coveted “CoverGirl of the Week” title four times. Toccara Jones was eventually voted off the show, but she parlayed the exposure into a contract with renowned plus-size model agency Wilhelmina.

The phenomenal success of the girls above is proof of how our views on beauty are changing. Some countries are legislating super-skinny models out of existence, which is admirable (if you aren’t a super-skinny model), but also a bit unnecessary. Plus-size models are becoming increasingly prevalent. Once a niche market, they are now finding themselves at the forefront of fashion. It’s a refreshing change, especially for the long-neglected man who likes a bit of meat on his lady’s bones;)

What's Victoria's Secret?

Recently we could enjoy this year Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
But it is not an usual fashion show - the best singers perform while the models present the costumes, everybody wants to find out what were this year costumes and arrangements and who got the chance to be victoria's secret angel. It is a spectacular performance.
As always the costumes were magnificent and models looked stunning.
All fashion world every year is waiting for this event and every model would like to be a part of this show. But being engaged to present the costumes is not enough. The models have to prepare properly for the show. Before each show the models don't eat food for 9 days, they drink only high protein cocktails. On twelve hours before the show they stop drinking even water. In addition they exercise twice a day. And it is not some easy exercise. They lift the dumbbells, they are boxing and they do the skipping rope. So it is a very hard work with lots of sacrifice. But at the end of the day they all say it is worth it. Adriana Lima said that after appearing on the Victoria's Secret show the models keep on receiving amazing work opportunities.  

Everybody wants to hire Victoria's Secret Angels. 

The show is like a fairy tale - the models are beautiful, the costumes are magical.

Lucky us, Victoria's Secret is planning to open a 16,500 square foot store on the capital's New Bond Street in 2012.

Fairly soon women across the country could be dressing like this ;)