Courtney Love, the rock star and actress, recently confessed that she could not compete with her contemporary, the supermodel Kate Moss, in terms of fashion influence and appeal during a pub quiz with the Financial Times.
Love’s comments came as part of a broader discussion on her style inspirations. The former Hole singer revealed that among her style icons are Paula Yates, Kate Moss, Michael Stipe, and Woody Harrelson. She expressed particular admiration for Yates, a British television presenter, who she considered the epitome of cool during her formative years.
Moving on to Moss, Love conceded that imitating Moss’s style was an impossible feat. She recounted an incident from years past where both women purchased identical Victorian jet-beaded capelets from a vintage shop on Portobello Road. Love wore hers first and was met with criticism after being photographed. In stark contrast, Moss’s subsequent appearance in her capelet was met with approval.
The vocalist’s words on her style icons are as follows:
“My style icons are Paula Yates, Kate Moss, Michael Stipe, and Woody Harrelson. For me, growing up, Paula was the coolest woman in the world. Kate, obviously. But you can’t do Kate. Many years ago, I went to Portobello Road with Kate to a vintage shop, and we both bought Victorian jet-beaded capelets. I wore mine out first and was photographed and got slammed.
Kate wore hers out, and they were knocking them off in a week. I couldn’t compete. Michael turned me on to Hedi Slimane, Dior Men. And Woody, just for having the balls to call me up before my first Academy Awards and say, ‘Court, come on, wear the hemp Armani gown.’ He turned out to be right. I was like, ‘Make [your wife] Laura wear the hemp Armani,’ and she did.”
So, as Courtney revealed, Kate’s appearance with duplicates appeared in stores within a week, although she got slammed for wearing them. This experience led Love to the conclusion that she simply couldn’t compete with Moss’s fashion influence.
