Kate Moss at 50: what makes Kate great, by Naomi Campbell, the Duchess of York and more of her closest friends

Cheers to half a century of Kate Moss — the little girl from Croydon who triumphed to become London’s biggest fashion export, ever. 

Since the day in 1988 when a 14-year-old was scouted at the JFK airport, her every move and nose-wrinkled giggle has captivated millions. Each outfit she wears has the power to launch years-long trends, be that Hunter wellies at Glasto, Pete Doherty in tow, to the naked dress that shocked the world in 1993 and has stuck on designers’ mood boards to this day. 

She has covered every magazine, closed every fashion show, and, importantly, reigned supreme over teenage bedroom pin boards for generations. She’s been the party princess and the moon-bathing, wild-swimming yogi — and plenty of her friends have stuck around for the ride. 

Here, her nearest and dearest pay tribute to an icon, Kate the Great: 

Happy birthday, Kate Moss! My dearest friend, you are a timeless beauty, inside and out. We’ve been on an amazing journey and I’m so glad to be your ride or die partner. We’ve had more unforgettable moments than I care to remember, lol. Whether it was the photoshoot in Paris when we rocked those iconic outfits, our trip to South Africa to visit Nelson Mandela, or riding in the open-top bus as part of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we continue to reign, representing South London to the world! You are my chosen sister and I’m proud to welcome you to the fabulous fifties! My Wagon and BFF. 

Kate was going out with Johnny Lee Miller, who was Jude [Law]’s friend, and I remember when we first met I came into my house and she was standing on my kitchen table. Right from the beginning I recognised how generous she was. I was getting married to Jude and I didn’t have a wedding dress to wear so she literally stepped in like my fairy godmother and lent me a dress that John Galliano had made her for her 21st. From that moment, we became besties, bosom buddies. She has always been the perfect girlfriend to play dress up with — the spirit and the entertainment you get from her in those moments is unmatched. I like that my relationship with her isn’t any kind of industry one. It is based on us and family; her being Iris’s god mum, and me being Lila’s. Her genuine essence is kind of pure gold. 

Not only is Kate one of the great timeless beauties who is gliding through life always staying true to who she is, she is doing it without ever losing touch with the 14-year-old girl I met when starting out in the business. To me she is a chameleon: a cover girl, a collaborator, a friend and without doubt an icon.

Kate and I have known each other for many, many years and we have laughed and been steadfast in our friendship in all ways. Happy birthday, dearest beautiful Kate, with much love, Duch. 

Her beauty grows with her. It’s more alluring, sexier. Kate will always be the beauty of an epoch — and the face of London, the face of England. I find her at her most radiant and beautiful right now. When I met her on Concorde in 1993 she was a child — an outrageously beautiful but scared child. If we end up with the face we deserve then she’s got it. She’s always been the coolest and kindest person, although she radiates swagger. In fact she would make a great rock star. She is rock and roll and she’s more gorgeous than she’s ever been.

I’ve known slag for over 30 years. She was my introduction into the fashion industry, and we’ve never really left each other’s side. She’s my ride or die, my number one slag. 

I don’t think people realise how fun and up for a laugh Kate is — she loves an evening of screaming around Winter Wonderland with her gang. One memory that always makes me smile is an open-top bus tour we took around New York the day after she’d been to the Met Gala. Just 12 hours before she was on the red carpet, and now she was with her gays howling and smoking at the back of the bus like the naughty kids at school. She’s so much fun. 

Those of us lucky enough to have crossed paths with Kate Moss know about ‘being Mossed’. It usually involves a chance encounter where Kate takes control and somehow, out of nowhere, you are having the best moment of your life. Over the last 30 years I have experienced and observed many moments of being Mossed. One of these was when Kate suddenly appeared at my studio to discuss making some leotards. She swept in, and my team fell quickly under her spell. She talked about colours and demonstrated moves to show how the thing would be worn, flinging her body into agile dramatic shapes while we stared in awe. I could see everyone falling in love in slow motion. She had arrived at 3pm and at 7pm she was upstairs in my flat, asking my husband if she could unload the dishwasher. When the Waitrose delivery of groceries arrived we all made supper together, with Kate directing, asking questions and recounting outlandishly hilarious and fascinating anecdotes. We waved goodbye at 1am feeling bewitched by the extraordinary exhilarating quality of her company. 1am is quite early in the scheme of things. Once, when I nipped round to Kate’s, I got rather a shock when my seven-year old son rang me, sounding quite unimpressed, saying ‘Where are you, Mum?’ It was 8am.

When I met Kate Moss she was 14 or maybe 15 and a foot shorter than everybody else. Because I was a bit older and had some success she kind of gravitated towards me and I to her — this irresistible little ingénue with a heart-shaped face. We became friends and I think her agent gently advised her not to spend too much time with me, as I had in those days a taste for the wild life, and that I might lead her astray. I am not sure, even back then, it wasn’t the other way around. 

When me and Kate used to DJ together we had a thing called Fat Moss, which is probably one of the favourite parts of my career so far. Kate came to me and said, ‘Annabel’s have asked me to DJ. Will you do it with me?’ She has one of the most amazing heads for music. She’s been around a while, considering she’s 50, and her musical tastes are so eclectic — everything from the Rolling Stones to Soul II Soul to Massive Attack. Then we travelled the world doing it, Mykonos, Brazil, Hong Kong. She’s just one of the most loyal, normal, loving people on the planet. She’s South London, that’s it. She has that real people mentality of looking after her own. 

One of my favourite memories of Kate is from the summer before my wedding [to Tom Guinness]. As someone with two left feet and zero rhythm, I wasn’t feeling optimistic about our impending first dance. But after lunch one day at our house in Wiltshire, Kate took Tom and I into another room and spent hours creative directing the whole thing from scratch. It was like that scene from Dirty Dancing, minus the lycra. And we actually stuck to it. That’s the thing about Kate, she has such an infectious energy that you end up doing whatever she says. 

I’ve had some crazy nights out with Kate over the years. If you ask her what one of the best nights she’s ever had out was, she could probably come up with this herself: me, her and Mary J Blige ended up going to Mary’s London hotel room in 2017. After I drank lots of tequila, we started doing a dance-off and lip syncing with bowls of fruit. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much, doing twerking competitions on the couch in a hotel room. She’s the best person to have fun with. We get up to mischief — good mischief — and laugh.

I will never forget when she encouraged me to practice reiki about 15 years ago on holiday in Formentera. Her energy was so powerful, like a goddess. We ended our session with giggles as the vibrations were so high. I went on to get my reiki degree, which I use daily. The energy of a goddess, the soul of a rock star and the stance of a true icon, long may she reign. 

I remember her around the early Nineties mark. We were doing shows, one in particular for Vivienne Westwood, and it was Linda, Christy, Naomi — all the big girls — and Kate arrived about six inches shorter than everyone else. This little school girl from Croydon who looked very, very different from the Amazonian glamorous, almost cartoon-like, supermodels. I remember thinking, ‘Oh God, she’s gonna look so small on the runway with all those girls’. But she got on and was really incredible. For that tiny, skinny little person to hold their own with those huge, experienced people in platforms — we all said, wow. She’s still that girl. Kate’s never really been anyone else. She’s not some sort of fake creation of a PR team, it’s very much Kate — flaws and all. 

The first time I worked with Kate was for Dazed with Juergen Teller. We were previewing Stella McCartney’s first collection for Chloé which hadn’t yet been shown. I had been up all night drinking amaretto and was a bit of a mess and we were shooting in Juergen’s old house in Ladbroke Grove. He had Kate rolling around on the floor outside whilst he stood above her, and the fabrics were all super light chiffons that got badly chewed up. I was really worried everything would be too damaged to show, but it all got cleaned up. Those samples that got shown the following week in Paris, 1997. 

My favourite memory of Kate? I gave a small party for Lucian Freud’s 80th where she took the mic and sang Summertime to him rather than Happy Birthday. She just brought the house down.

Dearest Kate, as the clock strikes 50, it whispers not of lines etched on a face, but of chapters vibrantly lived. Your commitment to meditation and to mental well-being is admirable. Today, we celebrate you, Kate — not just the legend, but the friend, the seeker, the woman who dances with life’s shadows and emerges even more radiant. May your next 50 chapters be filled with laughter, love, and an ever-deepening connection to the boundless wellspring within. 

Kate the Great, a beauty and style maestro, her gaze melting icebergs, lips singing songs of desire. A style icon and rock 'n' roll muse, her influence from the '90s echoes in our present. Traveling with her, discovering new places, and alone moments in her county house or my Ibiza sanctuary, pausing time with all the great archive looks and never ending music till the sunrise — Kate Moss you are unforgettable.

Kate is very special to me. She is one of the smartest people I know, and also one of the most stylish. It’s nice to find friends in this industry with whom you can talk about important topics or nonsense. I am very lucky to have her in my life. I wouldn’t have imagined I’d know her in a million years. I admired her when I was young, so I feel very privileged. 

I once lost her diamond ring. We were doing a British Vogue shoot on a boat in 2003, and I put it on my finger. Then, I looked down and it had gone. You know that thing where you go, oh f**k. You don’t know whether to say something or not because you’re just praying that maybe you didn’t have it. I said, ‘Kate, did I give you your ring back?’ and she went, ‘No, you didn’t.’ To her credit, she just got up and looked for it. She never said to me what the f**k. Anita Pallenberg was helping, and she found it underneath the carpet. I’ll never forget Anita just screaming, ‘I found it!’. Kate never lost her cool.