Kate Moss on Her Eclectic Style, Elizabeth Taylor, and Her New Jewelry Collaboration

There are few figures in the world of fashion as immediately recognizable yet as notoriously tight-lipped as Kate Moss. But when we connect over the phone from her home in London, it’s clear that if there’s one thing that will get Moss talking, it’s her love of jewelry. “When I was a kid, I always liked antique things,” she says excitedly. “These days I like to mix it all up. I don’t just buy high-end jewelry, I buy little trinkets, bits I like from other people, from antique places,” she adds, before breaking out into her signature full-throated laugh: “Although, if they are antique, they’re probably still a bit high-end.”

The latest product of this long-standing passion is her first full jewelry collection, which Moss designed in collaboration with the luxury French jewelry house of Messika. It all began when she starred in the brand’s campaign last year alongside Joan Smalls. “When I met Valérie [Messika, the brand’s founder] on set, we just got on really well,” Moss says. “It was very organic.” On one of Messika’s regular trips to London at the beginning of the year, the pair met up for tea, and Moss spontaneously decided to bring along her jewelry box. “I felt like that was the best way to explain what I like and what my taste is, because it’s quite eclectic,” Moss explains. “I remember Valérie saying, ‘You're not just pure rock and roll like people think.’ I have Art Deco pieces and Victorian pieces and ’70s things; it just depends on what mood I’m in. I think she was quite surprised by that.”

It’s these very pieces that served as the foundation for the collection, covering the full spectrum of Moss’s wide-ranging tastes across 70 individual designs. A series inspired by ancient tattoo cuffs carry the decorative flair to elevate one of Moss’s iconic little black dresses, while bohemian head jewelry and stacked bracelets wouldn’t look out of place within one of her go-to Glastonbury looks, paired with mini-shorts and Hunter Wellies. So too do the Art Deco–inflected necklaces and earrings serve as the perfect tool to bring full-throttle glamour to the red carpet, or for one of Moss’s famously decadent birthday parties. 

As Moss remembers it, her hoarder’s instinct for jewelry extends all the way back to childhood. “As a kid I would always save the smallest present wrapped up under the tree at Christmas for last, hoping it was going to be a piece of jewelry, but it never was,” she says, before laughing again, “I suppose I’m making up for that now!” It was when her modeling career took off that Moss began splashing out on the pieces she still treasures to this day. “I remember being in Milan for the shows, and I went to Pennisi—it’s a jewelry shop that I think Miuccia Prada goes to—and I bought these emerald and gold antique earrings that eventually Craig McDean shot for Vogue Nippon. It was then I started collecting. I can’t pass a jewelry shop without looking in the window now.”

A major source of inspiration also came from some of the style icons Moss has idolized throughout her life. “Because it’s high-end jewelry and they were talking diamonds, I was just thinking decadence, and imagining some billionaire hippy like Talitha Getty—that was my dream inspiration,” Moss adds. “Oh, and Elizabeth Taylor, of course. Nobody loved jewelry more than her.” As Moss describes it, her attitude to wearing luxurious jewelry is just as laid-back as the women of generations past she looks up to. “When I’m in Ibiza, I like to wear diamonds on the beach,” she says. “When I go swimming in the sea, sometimes I’ll just wear my emerald ring that I got from Jade Jagger, because the colors look so beautiful in the water. I know that sounds quite decadent, but that’s why I love jewelry—it gives me pleasure, it definitely brings me joy.”

Would she describe herself as something of a magpie then? “Oh definitely,” she says, before adding for emphasis: “Definitely. If there’s a girl with a lot of jewelry on—or any jewelry on at all—I can’t help myself. I’ll say, ‘Ooh, that’s nice, ooh, that’s lovely.’ I just love it.” It seems that being on the receiving end of an effusive compliment by none other than Kate Moss clearly happens more often than you might think. Yet even though Moss prizes the timeless quality of the pieces she’s designed for Messika, her approach to buying jewelry for herself has become a lot more spontaneous in recent years. “I’m definitely an impulse buyer,” she adds. “If I love it in the moment, I have to have it. If I want to wear it right that second, I can’t leave the shop without it.” 

For Moss, the Messika collection doesn’t just reflect her eclectic tastes, but also serves as a look back at some of the pieces she’s acquired that have remained in her jewelry box for their sentimental value. “I always remember this diamond Tiffany necklace I wore for my first jewelry shoot with Camilla Nickerson for American Vogue,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh, my god, that’s just the most dreamy thing I’ve ever seen,’ and someone bought it for me! That was a very memorable moment. I also have a baby ring from when I gave birth that feels special. A lot of it is memorable from birthdays or when I’ve treated myself or presents from people that are sentimental.” As Moss herself perfectly puts it: “Jewelry is all about memories, really, isn’t it?”