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Kate Moss on why she's defying the beauty rules at 46
Like the Queen, Kate Moss’s usual mantra is ‘never complain, never explain’. It’s a life philosophy which has seen her through years of supermodel stardom and even the occasional scandal. Her enigmatic approach means that now, at 46 (she celebrated her birthday in January), she’s still as mysteriously cool as the early 90s girl posing for Corinne Day in white boyfriend jeans and Birkenstocks.
Moss is selective about the brands she works with these days and rarely appears on the catwalk (her last turn was for her friend Kim Jones’ last Louis Vuitton men’s show in 2018, where she stomped in biker boots alongside longtime comrade Naomi Campbell) but she has been the face of luxe Japanese skincare brand Decorté since 2015, a gig which affords the opportunity to glean snapshot hints of her attitude to looking fabulous now.
First I ask for Moss’s pearls of wisdom on going barefaced - a pursuit at which she excels in both on holiday and in London out-and-about mode. ‘I just cover up the bits I don't like and then put a bit of bronzer on, kind of glowy like I haven't got anything on, but I have,’ she confides, perched on a plush cream sofa in a suite in Claridges, her skin just the right kind of glowy and her hair carefully tousled.
Vitality Tincture, £140, Decorte
Instead of relying on expensive, time-consuming facials, Moss loves a Decorté sheet mask which she’ll ‘throw on and then lie down for a bit’. Unlike many celebrities, she doesn’t profess to put on one of these rather terrifying looking miracle-workers the minute her plane takes off; ‘I feel a bit silly, I have done that before with a friend, but I don't do it on my own’.
It’s also reassuring to know that despite years of being preened by the best beauty technicians in the world, there are some old-school methods Moss still relies upon. ‘I put lipstick on my cheeks, but that's kind of normal. I remember when a make-up artist first did it to me, I said why aren't you using blusher?’ she says, adding that, ‘I always used eyelashes curlers now, it wakes me up.’
Do supermodels have their own muses? For Moss, it’s Susie Cave, the gorgeously ethereal wife of Nick Cave and creator the fashion brand Vampire’s Wife. ‘She is so glamorous, every time I bump into her anywhere, she just looks amazing and feminine. I am always in awe of her.’
Despite all the alarming advice doled out by dermatologists about staying out of the sun and wearing SPF at all times, Moss’s approach is characteristically relaxed. ‘I was very bad with sunscreen and then I was introduced to La Roche-Posay, which is a fluid which doesn't feel heavy so I wear that now,’ she says. ‘But I'm not religious.’ She also insists that she ‘never used to do anything’ to look after her skin, but she’s started to take more care in the last few years.
The desert island beauty product which gives her skin instant oomph, when required, is Decorté’s Baobab-packed Vitality Tincture; ‘I just love it and the smell is amazing and it’s so moisturising. I always pop it in my handbag’. Anything else Moss doesn’t leave the house without? ‘I make sure I brush my hair, that's a big giveaway, and I always have some sunglasses.’
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