Scandaleuse Beauté

Obviously, I should've posted this the instant I heard, but better late than never: Kate Moss is on FOUR covers of French Vogue!!! Also, Kate's guest editing the special December issue...which I'm soooo buying.

Ha! Eat that, you stupid people who:
a) don't think she's gorgeous
b) thought the cocaine meant she was over
c) are stupid

Seriously, isn't it hard proof that Kate is gorgeous when magazines can't shoot a cover with her without shooting multiple ones? (See W's NINE covers September 2003)

Details on the issue from fashionweekdaily.com are after the jump...

(NEW YORK) Kate Moss has proved why she’s worth a million bucks.

In the special December issue of French Vogue, which hits newsstands in Europe later this week, the supermodel utilizes her guest-editing skills in a series of couture-centered stories that peg her as the “scandaleuse beauté,” or scandalous beauty.

In a firsthand look at the issue, a Daily exclusive—of which four covers were created based on director Jean Cocteau’s 1946 French film, La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)—the magazine’s creative director, Fabien Baron, offered a simple reason for choosing multiple covers instead of the traditional single. "We couldn’t make up our mind which one we liked the best,” he offered.

Indeed, it pays to judge a book by its cover. At least this time. Moss is photographed by Craig McDean wearing a series of different ensembles—a Chanel couture cape; a Valentino couture gown; a Giorgio Armani Privé dress with Dior Homme bolero and Givenchy couture boots; and a Dior Homme embellished jacket and Superfine skinny leg jeans—portraying Christmas in what Baron describes as a very French Christmas way.

“Cocteau was one of the founders of the surrealism movement,” he noted. “And at the same time that we came up with this concept, Kate happened to be recording this music also called Beauty and the Beast.” Additionally, on two of the covers, there is noticeable white writing, like that of a child’s handwriting, across the photo, which came directly from Cocteau’s film. “We projected the words La Belle et la Bête onto the cover as an homage to him,” Baron said. As for keeping the covers simple, the choice of black and white was a no-brainer. “We thought it’d look and be different,” Baron said. “It was very much in keeping with the look of the film and the idea at the time.”

While the French Vogue team—led by editor in chief and stylist Carine Roitfeld—encountered no problems producing the cover images, some of the inside stories were, well, a different story. After Moss’ unfortunate drug allegations generated a worldwide scandal, the model, who had designed the initial structure of the stories, sought rehabilitation and as a result, became unavailable to finish several of the main fashion wells. As Baron noted, a couple of pages had to be reinvented and “one of the stories should’ve had all photos of her, but it wasn’t her in the end.”

Baron didn’t want to give away too much, but he did touch upon some highlights. The issue’s longest article, written by Sheryl Garratt (a freelance English journalist who was once editor in chief of The Face), traces Moss’ life, career, and her rise to fashion icon status, and is accompanied by a series of photos Mario Testino shots, along with Moss’ own personal pictures, as well as French Vogue’s own portraits. A portfolio homage to Moss was also created, where major photographers from Bruce Weber to Steven Klein to Patrick Demarchelier to Testino, each dedicated one photo and quote about Moss and how inspiring she has been to each of them. And, of course, there are the requisite fashion stories that were inspired by Moss’ much-emulated aesthetic. “Where in Sofia [Coppola] you could feel all different things about her, this mixture, Kate is more fashion, more stylish, but not to say Sofia isn’t stylish, but Kate’s was more about style,” Baron said, comparing the Moss issue to that of Coppola’s, who guest edited the December 2004 edition of French Vogue.

But even with all the pretty dresses and sugary quotes, what’s most potentially touching is the picture Moss herself selected for the issue’s opener. The image features Moss, her hair flying in the wind, right after she departed from rehab in Arizona. “This was not a paparazzi photo; Kate took it herself and gave it to us,” Baron stated. “We feel that it was very important for the magazine to support her during that time, to not abandon the idea that we had to use Kate. We like Kate because there’s an idea of danger about her. We weren’t going to throw the rocks at her because she got into some trouble. It must’ve been really, really hard for her and I’m proud that French Vogue, and Vogue as a brand, supported her through this. It was honorable of us and very responsible for her to deal with things and to put herself where she is today.”
JIM SHI