 Art & Fashion
As a first night blooper, it was a classic. British press photographers were stacked on ladders in London's Oxford Street in front of thousands of shoppers-in-waiting looped around the Topshop building. At 8 p.m., there was Kate Moss, poised to appear in the window. A massive roar of "FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!" went up—and the curtain refused to budge.
Sir Philip Green, the brand's billionaire owner, barked orders. Moss retired to the wings, propped her head in her hands, and squeaked, "Aw, is 'e getting 'is money's worth, or what?"
Finally, the drapes obeyed, and Moss was revealed, throwing a feline shape in a
$390 version of a red bias-cut thirties gown, accessorized, Coco-like, with a metal belt. It took all of 30 seconds, but it was a publicity coup splashed across the evening news and the front pages of today's U.K. morning newspapers. Moss snaked off with Green, and all was well. Kate Moss for Topshop (Part I) is launched. (For Part II, stand by for Barneys New York, next week.)
The moment they were allowed inside, women and girls—some in school uniforms and ponytails—cascaded down escalators toward Kate's 90-piece launch collection. Sir Philip, an entrepreneur who knows the meaning of "retail is detail" was on hand to help customers—"Size 12, madam? Certainly!"—find their way around Kate's teensy hot pants, tailored vests, vintage-y gowns, and knee-high moccasin boots.
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Early hits seemed to be the pansy-print forties dress (shown on right), the lemon one-shouldered chiffon cocktail frock, and a diaphanous blouse with the initials K.M. worked into the print. One of Moss' friends looked up long enough to take in the black walls, purple couches, birdcages,
mini-chandeliers, and leopard-spot flooring. "Looks like Kate's place in here," she said. "Even those metal swallows on the wall. They're her tattoos."
Topshop's excellent crowd-control strategists organized things so that only a few shoppers were allowed in at a time; queuing customers were fed, watered, and issued with timed-entry wristbands; and potential eBay profiteers were stymied by a strict five-item-only purchase rule. Ironically, while the
public shopped sedately, the real mob was back of house, in the VIP room. There, editors and Kate's mates—including Lily Cole, Sadie Frost, Peaches Geldof, Jess Morris, and Sarah Doukas—were struggling to get first dibs on
trunk loads of the collection while Katy England, Alexander McQueen's ex-stylist and now Moss' consultant-in-chief, did her best to maintain order.
Certain underhanded tactics—including the hiding of samples and the removal of identifying numbers to prevent rivals from ordering—could be observed going on in the melee. But, hey—customers and after-party invitees alike streamed out of the store happily toting their Kate Moss for Topshop bags. Some didn't tear themselves away until midnight.
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