Cigarettes, ice cream and Kate Moss

When I met Kate Moss she was fourteen or maybe fifteen 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, although I am not sure even back then it wasn’t the other way around.

Backstage at Vivienne Westwood’s Erotic Zones show in 1995, I stood in line with Yasmin and Naomi and a bunch of other models and next to Kate. Kate had nothing on, basically, except a mini skirt, which was actually just a wide belt, and a blue musketeer hat. She had a cigarette in one hand and an ice cream in the other. As we waited to go on, we smoked and talked, about South London mostly, where we both came from, and how lucky we were to have managed to escape and it was just ordinary stuff, really, ordinary talk, and then Kate turned and raised her chin a little and with nothing but the pulse of her own wayward electricity running through her, stepped into the light and fashion history and redefined beauty for ever. Kate was and remains the most naturally gifted model that ever lived.

Over the years I have worked with her countless times and she is a dear friend and, well, I just want you to know that I adore you, my darling Kate. Love Susie.

Kate Moss