A year ago, Kate Moss had never pitched herself for a job – why would she? – until longtime friend and co-conspirator Katy England persuaded the super to offer up her archive as the inspiration for a Zara collection. One rather professional pdf – with thanks to England’s son Wolf – later, and the pair landed the gig.
Fast forward to 27 November and, after a fateful morning raiding Moss’s designated dress space in her mythical-sounding storage facility and a summer spent flitting to and from Zara’s Spanish HQ, the edit of quintessentially Kate pieces came to light at a London party in Oswald’s.
A word on the guest list: wow. With Moss’s rolodex to hand, Inditex chairwoman Marta Ortega Pérez received affirmative RSVPs from Phoebe Philo and Max Wigram, Rose Ferguson and Jake Chapman, Edward Enninful and Alec Maxwell, Courtney Love, Sadie Frost, Chioma Nnadi, Bella Freud and Tim Walker. The Vogue cover star’s partner in crime England attended with her husband Bobby Gillespie, plus sons Wolf and Lux, who sat on the “kids’ table” with Zara lookbook model Ch’lita Collins. Like her mother, Lila Moss was resplendent in a black beaded confection that had an air of flapper – family friend Kim Jones decreed this a trend before bowing out at Fendi – but still looked timeless for party season in 2024.
For an industry figurehead who maintains the best bashes are always at home – “everyone’s dressing up, it wasn’t meant to be one” – it was clear Kate had trained her inner circle well for her big night. Jess Morris, Corra Corré, Charlotte Tilbury, Lucie de la Falaise and Tish Weinstock all stuck to Moss’s tried-and-tested partywear advice: “Black, always black.” And despite the model’s protestations that she never likes having her picture taken as herself, finding it much easier to embody a character in front of the lens, she looked every inch the glamorous hostess.
