Kate Moss Taught Us How Not To Feel

On what marks the forty-second birthday of one of the 90s’–and fashion history’s–most beloved models, Kate Moss, let us take pause to reflect on all the ways one waif’s English poise has taught us the importance of not feeling.

Moss’ first major photo shoot at sixteen years old, for The Face, schooled us right away on the importance of apathy–not just in modeling, but in life. Posing for a spread entitled “The Third Summer of Love,” there’s nothing amorous in Moss’ eyes as she stares into the void and proves that caring equals death.

As her career progressed to the “heroin chic” phase of the early 90s, Moss took the beauty of detachment to new heights with her CK advertising campaign for, among other products, Obsession perfume. Indeed, her indifference is what have made so many obsessed with her–it’s the key to cultivating any long-lasting form of interest.

Even in 1995, at one of the many peaks of her career, she remained stoic in a futuristic glittering wedding dress made by Gianni Versace, telling us with a single look that the only reason to get married is for the dress. And, even while walking on water for Alexander McQueen’s 1996 fall/winter fashion show before the tortured fashion guru was tapped to be Givenchy’s head designer, Moss kept her signature brand of disaffectedness.

By the early 00s, it wasn’t enough for Moss to merely be dispassionate, she had to cultivate the drug habit to match her 90s persona of careless recklessness–with the help of Pete Doherty to really do it up properly. But through it all–the dropped contracts with H&M, Chanel, etc.–Moss was a samurai in the art of not caring. And we would all do well to take a page from her–it would make for a much happier, more carefree existence. So make a wish for Moss’ birthday this year that she’ll always maintain that steely aura we can learn from time and time again.