Kate Moss’s influence on fashion goes without saying. We’re all familiar with her runway appearances and campaigns – but her pre-stardom self is something we don’t get to see often.
Kate, published by Phaidon, is a collection of 50 never-before-seen images of a young Kate Moss on the cusp of international fame. Behind the camera, was one of the most acclaimed fashion photographers of our time – her then-boyfriend Mario Sorrenti.
Moss and Sorrenti – who also worked as a model – met on a photo set in 1991: “I remember sitting next to her and feeling like my heart was going to stop; her beauty overwhelmed me,” he recalls in the volume’s introductory text. Shortly after their encounter, Moss became Sorrenti’s muse and the pair spent their two-year relationship travelling and collaborating on images, that now offer intimate insights on their lives together. The collection of photographs, though, became much more than a personal album, even contributing to the supermodel’s rise to fame after Calvin Klein commissioned Sorrenti to shoot a photo diary of Moss for its now-infamous Obsession perfume campaign in 1993.
25 years later, Sorrenti’s new book Kate documents the two years the pair spent together at the beginning of their respective careers. If you want to hear the stories behind the images, the photographer will be appearing in London to discuss his career, fashion in the 90s and working with Moss with Dazed Digital’s Head of Fashion Emma Hope Allwood at the National Portrait Gallery on September 14.
Kate by Mario Sorrenti is available to purchase here, and tickets for In Conversation: Mario Sorrenti at the Nation Portrait Gallery can be found here.