Catching sight of the gigantic Calvin Klein billboard on Houston Street in 1992, my initial reaction as a professional photographer visiting New York City from London was: “How on Earth can they make a print that size?”
Then I did a double take. The waif-like, half-naked woman next to Mark Wahlberg — that impossibly cool girl with the wide-placed, almond eyes, razor cheekbones and “f - - k you” demeanor — was strikingly familiar. It was Kate Moss, the inscrutable teen who had posed at my London studio four years earlier for her first-ever photo shoot.
Despite being naive about the fashion industry, the 14-year-old possessed — or at least managed to fake — a remarkable confidence. Her attitude was exceptional for an otherwise ordinary schoolgirl who, at the time, was attending the British equivalent of a junior high. She had a certain something. And, unknown to both of us, she was on the brink of superstardom.
The session had been scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1988, by Sarah Doukas, a contact of mine who had recently set up her own modeling agency, Storm. “Can I send you one of my new girls?” Sarah had asked. It was quid pro quo. I needed to build my portfolio because I was branching out into the hopefully more lucrative field of fashion, and Sarah needed test shots to tout around to advertising agencies and editors.
Things got off to a bad start as Kate turned up 24 hours early. The porter in my building found her wandering the hallways. He rang my bell and, when I opened the door, I assumed he’d found some lost kid looking for her mother on the wrong floor. “Sarah sent me,” Kate said. It was the school half-term holidays and I was flabbergasted to learn that she’d traveled alone from the suburb of Croydon, right on the other side of London — by train and subway, an adventurous trip which must have cost her a fair amount of money.
I wasn’t ready for her. And, even if I had been, it wouldn’t have been professional to photograph a 14-year-old unchaperoned. So I sent her away. It was awkward and, though she tried to hide it, she must have been quite annoyed. I honestly didn’t expect to see her again the following day.
But Kate came back, this time with a school friend. She was wearing her own clothes for the shoot — a white sweatshirt with a huge Fred Perry leaf design, baggy pants and a felt hat, with a matching coat — and had brought a couple of things to change into. To be frank, at first sight, she didn’t seem outstanding to me. She was just a pretty, skinny girl. I remember thinking I had a challenge on my hands because, at the time, fashion was all about the big hair, pouty lips and giant shoulder pads of the Glamazons like Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford.
Kate was everything but that.
There was no budget for hair and makeup, so I shot her exactly as she was. Her hair was wild, very long and not even cut into a proper style. I had to pull it out of her eyes and fix it up at the back, so it at least looked tidy.
To begin, I let Kate sit and do her thing, without direction. Teenagers sometimes practice in front of the mirror with their poses and maybe she’d done that.
To my surprise, she had an incredible range of expressions and a glint in her eye. I told her not to smile, but to think about something which made her smile. The effect was incredible. I had never seen that kind of attitude and confidence in anyone so young.
She was very much the young lioness, with these unusual features — a wide nose, eyes set apart, cheekbones sharply angled, pursed lips. She had this coolness about her. If I’d been a 14-year-old boy, I’d have thought she was out of my league, as if she would crush me with just a few words. As a 22-year-old man, I found her mysterious and aloof, which, of course, became her trademark. She stared unflinchingly into the camera.
There was hardly any banter between us. She said “Goodbye” and “Thanks” at the end of the session, and it was over.
After about a week, I waited to show Sarah the photographs of Kate at Sarah’s new modeling agency. People were running around the place at 100 miles an hour. I was the little guy and I remember being worried that she wouldn’t be impressed by what I’d done.
Finally Sarah summoned me, and we examined the transparencies on the light box. She took one look and was beside herself with joy, holding up the pictures and calling out to her colleagues. “Look at Kate!” she shouted excitedly. “Look at my Kate!”
The glam scene, the over-the-top ’80s look, had been done to death and fashion needed something new. The answer was Kate Moss.
The combination of youth and attitude, which Kate offered was unique and special and broke the mold of perfection. She was the princess of anti-glam. Her career took off like a rocket. She was — and still remains — the real deal.
David Ross is available for commissions, including private portraiture; davidrossphotography.co.uk. Prints of his Kate Moss images are available via lawrencealkingallery.com.