At 30, standing 5-foot-5 without her Miu Miu heels, Kate Bosworth is neither the youngest nor tallest nor the most original beauty in Hollywood, and hasn’t made a notable film in nearly a decade. So why does the fashion set continue to fawn over the actress — with insiders predicting that her second collection with Topshop, which launches today, will fly off the shelves?
“Kate has a confidence and grace that makes clothes her own,” says Kim Hersov, a columnist for Net-a- Porter’s online magazine The Edit, which made Bosworth its August cover girl.
Hersov’s sentiments are stock in the fashion industry, and the mag’s article tells a familiar story. There’s the usual blurb about “Blue Crush,” the 2002 surfer flick that gave Bosworth her only role most people can name, then a bit on her current project (this year it’s “Big Sur”), and finally the real promotion: her style and speculation on the dress she’d wear to wed “Big Sur” director Michael Polish. (It was Oscar de la Renta for the Aug.21 nuptials.)
Despite the interest, she’s a C-list actress slightly above Mischa Barton on the scale of marketability. Yet she’s a perennial face on magazine covers; this year she’s graced Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle UK, and the November issue of Lucky.
“Icon is a stretch. Kate is no Audrey Hepburn, but she does look great in clothes,” says stylist Robert Verdi. “Kate uses fashion in a very personal way . . . It’s not about the latest trend; she likes what she likes, when she likes it, and is willing to experiment.”
Bosworth’s last collaboration with the UK-based high-street retailer, a 16-piece ode to her own laid-back Coachella style that dropped back in May, sold out within hours. Her collection this go-round reflects a sleeker side, with structured, streamlined dresses, and separates.
“Kate Moss, the Olsens, Alexa Chung — they all have the same indefinable ‘It’ factor, and the secret with these women, and with Bosworth, is accessibility,” says Lauren Milligan, online news editor for Vogue UK. Attempting to define “It” isn’t easy, but for Milligan, it all comes down to how people relate to the stars they idolize.
Chung, the leggy Brit who tried — and failed — at stateside recognition on MTV’s short-lived “It’s On With Alexa Chung,” is in the same club as Bosworth. Both sit front row at Fashion Week, but they don’t usurp attention like a movie megastar or Naomi-caliber supermodel. They simply look like real-life versions of the mannequins on the runway.
“They are beautiful, slim and well-dressed, but they are not Gisele or Angelina Jolie,” Milligan adds, hinting at the chameleon-like quality that makes these girls ideal coat hangers for designer clothes. “They are normal girls with just a little bit more.”
Bosworth’s rail-thin frame, however, is anything but average, which explains why she also has no problem scoring the best fashions from the best runways.
But that doesn’t stop the actress from representing the kind of girl whom other girls envision being themselves, precisely because her fame is not predicated on Amazonian looks or inexplicable talent.
Who cares if she doesn’t actually design the clothes, if what’s really being sold is the chance to feel as easily, “effortlessly” chic?
“Bosworth has a touchable allure that makes us believe if we just bought that shirt, those boots, that dress, maybe — just maybe — we could look just like her,” Milligan adds. “And that’s a powerful spell to weave.”