After researching Michelle Olley, I wanted to research further into the concept of having a socially perceived identity that is not truly authentic, focusing on looking at models. I decided to look into Kate Moss, the iconic British model who rose to fame during the heroin chic fashion trend. From my pre-existing knowledge of Moss, I knew that many, many people wanted to identify and encapsulate not only her thin, waifish figure but also the carefree attitude she seemed to portray in photoshoots and interviews.
However, after beginning to research I discovered that Moss heavily struggled with her mental health, particularly during her early years of modelling. Many identified, or wanted to, with her grunge and carefree attitude, but Moss’s reality was a stark difference from how she was perceived through her shoots. One of her most famous shoots shot by Calvin Klein in 1992 alongside Mark Wahlberg, where she felt “vulnerable and scared”. Similarly, she spoke on her nude shoot for The Face in 1990 and recalls crying whilst being photographed as she felt so self-conscious about her body. This can be perceived as shocking as she is viewed by the public as confident and body positive, making her incredibly desirable and unattainable, becoming a large part of her identity.
Moss faced a large amount of backlash for glorifying thinness and drug use, famously stating, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” which became a largely used slogan in pro-eating disorder groups, but Moss claimed was a joke shared between friends over dinner, seemingly harmless. Still seen and used today as a diet slogan, her words quickly became known and tied into her identity.
“On the dreamy shores of a Caribbean island, siphoned of colour, Kate Moss surges forward with the waves, and falls back, adjusts her bikini top, blinks away salt water. And then comes the narcoticized, mumbled pitch for this TV perfume commercial: “I love her. I love you, Kate. Love is a word you can’t explain. Love, it was so beautiful, like, like paradise.”
The viewer does not just want to smell like Kate.
The concept that her identity is portrayed as an idealised attitude, lifestyle and selling point is highly intriguing as it opens the question of how we portray ourselves to others, and whether this is just a socially constructed form of our identity. Moving forward I will begin to think of my FMP outcome which will be a magazine, and so I will begin to put together a media pack and complete audience segmentation.
