It’s October 4, 1992, in Milan. A young Kate Moss, then just 18-years-old, is in the midst of her first runway season. Her debut in Milan is for Dolce & Gabbana’s spring summer 1993 collection—a show replete with ’70s-style bell bottoms, colourful patchwork suits, bug-eye shades, and wild, feather-adorned hats. It’s a show that’ll go down in history for its blend of hippie and grunge influences, as well as the fact that it elevated Moss from fashion darling to megawatt supermodel. (Before this, she’d mostly done campaigns.) “I think I’d just met Naomi and Christy,” Moss told Vogue of the Dolce & Gabbana show. “That was the beginning of years of fashion fun.”
33 years later, one of the world’s most famous models and fashion icons has walked hundreds, possibly thousands of runways. Her hair has been teased into endless shapes, her makeup every color of the palette, her 5ft7 body adorned in fabrics that’ve gone on to shape what we’ve worn for decades to come. Most importantly, today marks the supermodel’s 52nd birthday.
And so, what better way to celebrate than to take a look back at the model backstage throughout the golden ’90s, in those most candid, cool moments—from John Galliano’s pivotal spring summer 1994 collection to Miu Miu’s achingly minimal spring summer 1996 collection. Happy birthday, Kate Moss!