Celebrating An Icon : Happy Birthday Mossy...

From Croydon to the cover of British Vogue, the phenomenon that is Kate Moss has officially been in existence for 40 years today. Many a designer, major fashion photographer and magazine has fallen under her spell over the years and us Mice are no exception.

In true 3BM celebratory style we have gathered together our favourite Kate moments to share with you all. From her 33 Vogue front covers to her penchant for statement shoes - remember her Vivienne Westwood pirate boots, Minnetonka lace-up boots and gladiator sandals phase?! Then there's her string of oh-so-high profile relationships with the likes of Johnny Depp, Jefferson Hack, Pete Doherty and the love of her life Jamie Hince. She certainly has done a hell of a lot of living during her 40 years on earth. 

It all started 26 years ago at JFK airport when Kate was a mere 14 years old. Sarah Doukas of model Agency, Storm famously scouted Kate all those years ago and has played an instrumental part in her career ever since. Her first flashbulb cover moment was for The Face when she was just 16...

Kate was known as the anti-supermodel of the 1990s - her petite proportions in comparison to the supers of the moment - Naomi, Linda, Cindy, Elle, Claudia & Co - caused quite a stir...

Mossy's British Vogue debut came when she was 19 years old - shot by Corinne Day, the cover shoot was met with mixed emotions due to Kate's scruffy bun and distinctly un-Vogue appearance...

But the world really realised Kate's influence when it came to her wearing THOSE Vivienne Westwood Pirate boots in 1990 - BAM, overnight they become one of the most highly sought after fashion classics...

Magazine covers aside Kate took to the social side of fame like a duck to water rocking some eye-popping outfits and creating headlines! One that got her noticed in her early years was that sheer silver scrap of a number worn at an Elite Models party with Naomi Campbell - well if you've got it...

In 2001 Mario Testino famously handed Kate a box of paints in his West London studio and asked her to colour her face without using a mirror - the below picture went on to become the lead picture in his 2002 National Portrait Gallery exhibition...

Another iconic moment to bow down to has to be when Kate played David Bowie in 2003 for yet ANOTHER Vogue cover...

2005 was all about the Moss and Doherty duo - they meet at Kate's 31st birthday and had an on-off very public relationship until 2007...

Not forgetting Kate's business relationship with Topshop mogul Sir.Philip Green and the almighty attention her Oxford Circus window appearance was met with when she launched her first collection for the brand in 2007...

In 2011 Kate tied the knot in a Galliano gown. An understated look with a not so understated 16 bridesmaids...!

Posing in a bronze glitter bodysuit, Kate appeared on the front cover of POP magazine at the end of last year to mark her collaboration with artist, Allen Jones - still got it... 

Donning bunny ears and a powder puff tail Moss most recently made her Playboy debut for the title's 60th anniversary issue...

Wow what a journey and that's only a teeny speck of what this iconic figure in fashion has been up to over the years. Stayed tuned for more ultra-glossy Mossy appreciation next week - that's all I'm going to say for now...

Fashion on Film

I've just started reading Grace Coddington's Memoir and am already loving every second. Quite aside from giving an insight into the heady heights of American Vogue, it's beautifully illustrated, packed full of gorgeous photos and so readable that I've already whizzed through several chapters.

Grace shot to fame after starring in the fashion fabulous film, The September Issue, a documentary following the Vogue team as they put together the 2007 fall fashion issue. 

 

 

Reading the book and Grace's take on the film got me to thinking about my other favourite fashion films. So, here are the nine other films which complete my fashion film top ten...

 

The Eye Has To Travel 
She famously commented that the bikini was the most important thing since the atom bomb, and this documentary about the Empress of Fashion is stuffed full of deliciously similar Vreeland soundbites. The beautiful retrospective of the fashion tour de force who edited Harpers Bazaar and Vogue, really shows how the fashion magazine has become the all-powerful force that it is today. 



The Devil Wears Prada
The film adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's bestselling novel which is speculated to have been based on her real life experience working for Vogue's editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. Fashion world insight aside, the film also showcases some heart-stopping style and Meryl Streep's turn as icy editor, Miranda Priestly is fantastic. 



Valentino - The Last Emperor
This documentary chronicles the life and career of Valentino Garavani - master of couture, father to a pack of pugs and king of the tantrum. We see everything from dress fittings to star studded parties along with a bit of hilariously bitchy bickering between Valentino and his partner and business associate, Giancarlo Giammetti.



Marie Antoinette
Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is a complete riot of decadent, frothy, over-the-top costumes finished off with a high-top trainer. Fun and aesthetically dazzling, you'll want to eat cake while wearing a ball gown after watching this film.



Sex & The City Movie
After loving every single episode of the TV show and re-watching it all over and over again, the Sex & The City film wasn't quite all that we'd hoped it would be but no one can deny that the fashion is fabulous. No top ten of fashion films would be complete without a nod to Carrie & Co. Special mention has to go to that wedding dress scene...  



Lagerfeld Confidential
A peek into the bonkers world of a fashion genius, Karl Lagerfeld. This extended interview attempts to lift the curtain surrounding the elusive Chanel designer and is worth watching for the Karlisms alone... "When I took on Chanel, it was a sleeping beauty - not even a beautiful one; she snored".



Breakfast at Tiffany's
One of my all time favourite films, I absolutely adore Breakfast at Tiffany's and it's undoubtedly one of the most glamorous films ever made. Audrey Hepburn in that black Givenchy dress and pearls has to be one of fashion's most iconic images.



Bill Cunningham New York 
Documentary following The New York Times' fashion photographer, Bill Cunningham, as he goes about his street style snapping on his beaten up old bicycle. Funny and at times poignant, the film peels back the glitz and glamour and paints a moving portrait of the man behind the lens whose sole, all-consuming passion is fashion.



A Single Man
Fashion designer, Tom Ford's, film directorial debut, A Single Man is as startlingly beautiful as you'd expect it to be. Based on a novel by Christian Isherwood, the film centres around Colin Firth who plays a gay British college professor living in California in the 60s. With incredible performances from Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Nicholas Hoult, the film also provides a very stylish snapshot of sixties suburbia. 

All Work & No Play...

... calls for a very pretty desk!

This week I finally move into my brand new flat so I'm a little obsessed with all things home decor. The new flat has space for a desk, so for the first time ever I'll have my very own little office area where I can happily blog away in peace and quiet. With a whole new room to furnish I've spent hours on the ever amazing Pinterest gathering a bit of dream office inspo...

Images via: www.pinterest.com

Suitably inspired, now all I need to do is shop...

1. Ulrica Hydman-Vallien Mine Tumbler US$30 

2. West Elm Industrial Task Table Lamp £53.82 

3. Anthropologie Zinc Letters US$18 

4. Habitat Flap Large Analogue Wall Clock £130

5. Smythson Runway Notes Notebook £80

6. Vogue Cover Print - June 1940 US$125 

1. Typographic London Print £138

2. Anthropologie Dacschund Letter Holder US$32 

3. Esque Bubblegum Paperweight US180: 

4. Chrome Tripod Light £71

5. Black Dreyffus 500 Telephone £55 

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Eleven more sleeps, ELEVEN MORE SLEEPS!!!

Yes, it's really, really nearly Christmas now and yes, we are about six years old....!!!

Excitement is reaching fever pitch this year, not only because there's nothing us Mice love more than Christmas, but also because last year I had to cover the Hong Kong office over the holidays, so for the very first year ever, we spent Christmas Day apart. Sob! But this year I'll be jetting back to London and we'll be doing the whole thing on an even grander scale than usual to make up for the skipped family Chrimbo last time... cue double the festive films, three times as much champagne and so many presents that we'll still be opening them when the Downton Christmas special starts...(That last bit's obviously an exaggeration, no matter how many presents there are we'll always start opening them at 6am because we're too excited to sleep, and be sat beside a pile of shiny new things and surrounded by mountains of discarded wrapping paper by around 6:12am...).

With less than two weeks to go now, this week's been spent in a haze of shopping, mulled wine and advent calendar chocolates. The London Mice have been flitting around town hopping from party to party while I've been on a work trip in Tokyo where Christmas has a decidedly Hello Kitty tinge...

This weekend is going to be an action packed one for all of us Mice. Middle and Mini are off for a girlie weekend away and here in HK, I have a wedding and plenty of last minute Christmas shopping to cram in! To kick things off though, let's take a canter through the week just gone in Mice World. This week the Mice have mostly been...

Having a Scarlett moment with cocktails and jazz in the New York bar at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. With the most breathtaking views across the city and killer cocktails, it's not hard to see why this slinky little bar is the backdrop for several scenes from one of my favourite films ever, Lost in Translation. 

The perfect way to round off five days of Tokyo craziness, three days of adventuring around bitterly cold Seoul and a year of travelling to some pretty incredible places. I've generally been pretty bad at blogging about my travelling this year, but have been lucky enough to visit lots of amazing places that have been on my travel hitlist for a while. From Ho Chi Minh to Tokyo with a jaunt along the Amalfi Coast and a little Burma adventure in between. I'm planning to be a good little blogger and spend the Christmas break getting a year's worth of photos organised and writing up the details of where to stay, eat, drink and party in each of the hot spots I've hit up. Watch this space...   

Desperately trying to free up space on my trusty iPad for all the magazine amazingness that's FINALLY available to download! Vogue's app came a couple of months ago and was definitely worth the wait. If you haven't tried it yet hop over to the app store quick smart - slick, interactive and very pretty - nothing less than you would expect from the doyenne of fashion publications. Last week though I was thoroughly overexcited to find out that Grazia had launched its iPad app too. The best news ever for all Hong Kongers used to paying four pounds for their weekly Grazia fix (or skulking around beauty salons trying to get through the well-thumbed copy before your manicure dries and you're kicked out). Rather worryingly, the iPad version of Grazia is fully shoppable, hello 'mistakenly' snapping up everything in the Grazia Fashion Chart...

Image via: www.grazia.co.uk

Channeling the Madhatter and snapping up some serious hat candy... Trilbys, fedoras, beanies and even cloches, I just can't get enough hat action right now! A super chic way to stay cosy and hide any hair disaster days, if an outfit's looking a little lacking I seriously recommend putting a hat on it... I bagged a floppy brimmed black felt one while I was in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago and last week I added an olive green felt trilby from Seoul to my collection. I currently have my sights set on a couple of others, listen up father Christmas...

Topshop Plain Fedora

£25

Image via: www.topshop.com

Madeleine Thompson Disco Beanie

£95

Image via: www.mywardrobe.com

Beginning the biggest ever HK fashion countdown after the news that Topshop is opening up its first Hong Kong store in May! It's always been a bit of a mystery that Hong Kong seems to be one of the only big cities that Topshop's overlooked, so when yesterday it was announced that we'll be getting 12,000 square feet of fashion fabness next spring, there were squeals of delight from fashionistas all over the city. No more bi-annual pilgrimages to the Oxford Circus store in London, we can now get everything from our staple moto denim to our fav Topshop make-up nail shades right on our doorsteps here in Hong Kong. Amen.

And on that note, it's time to get the weekend started! Make sure you manage to squeeze in plenty of mulled-wine fuelled rocking around the Christmas tree between all that panicked present shopping!

Lots of Festive Love,
x
The Mice