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The Copy Kate collection
Last updated at 14:22pm on 20.04.07It doesn't go on sale for almost two weeks, but eager buyers of Kate Moss's new range for Topshop can finally see what all the fuss is about, courtesy of a new website set up especially to view the range.
www.katemosstopshop.com features a look book of the whole collection: the perfect tool for planning what to bag when the range is finally unveiled on 1 May.
See the Copycat Kate collection here
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Top copies: Kate Moss models her own designs on the dedicated website which will sell her clothing range. The halter neck dress is £60
But despite the clamour to see the range, Moss has been criticised for doing nothing more than opening up her own wardrobe. Her designs, created in collaboration with stylist Katy England, have been 'inspired' by pieces she already owns. See more here
Not that 1 May need be a smash-and-grab raid on your nearest Topshop store. For while the best bits of the collection are sure to sell out fast, the beauty of the internet means that no woman need ever feature in an ungainly scrum for the last size 10 pair of cropped skinny jeans again.
Even those customers living in remote corners of the world, with about as much means of getting to Topshop on 1 May as flying to the moon, can still snag a piece of Kate.
All you need is a reliable alarm clock: the collection will be available to buy online from 4am.
While Moss has been criticised, particularly in the US, for simply opening up her wardrobe and replicating it in bargain, high street form, surely it is precisely this ability to capitalise on her own style which proves she is a shrewd businesswoman.
It would have been far riskier to put out a collection based on nothing more than the current zeitgeist.
Moss is the most closely watched - and copied - woman in the world: why shouldn't she turn her own sense of style into profit? The rest of the high street has been doing it - albeit obliquely - for years, with barely a store in the land not taking her look as inspiration for their ranges.
Despite the critics, there is no doubt that the collection will be bought up hungrily by Moss's legion of fans. And while older customers might blanch at wearing a floral printed tea dress almost identical to the one she recently wore to such effect, younger customers should have no such qualms.
The Kate Moss range is definitely young at heart: tiny denim hotpants, shrunken waistcoats, string bikinis and skinny jeans will all look best on a Kate Moss body: for which, read anyone between the ages of 12 and 25.
Not that older fans need feel left out entirely. Rather than replicating the Moss look on themselves - which would surely be tragic on any woman whose years are commensurate with Moss's own - thirty and fortysomething customers should steer clear of Moss's obvious hallmarks and focus on the more anonymous pieces.
Priced at the higher end of the spectrum are two leather jackets: one fastenless and off-white, another black and zippered. These are future classics that could integrate into any wardrobe, whatever the wearer's age.
After reading about her tempestuous life with boyfriend Pete Doherty, anyone who thought Kate Moss is the jealous type can be appeased by a single glance at the look book.
While half of the clothes are modelled by Moss herself, the other half are worn by Irina Lazareanu - one of Doherty's ex girlfriends, and a former drummer in his band, Babyshambles.
Reader views (6)
The clothes will be overpriced and exactly the same as what is being sold in other shops for half the price. It will only sell because of Kate's name which Topshop well know. I do find it a little odd that people will rush out by spend too much money on clothes because of celebrity designed them, its not like they'll be wearing them themselves or anything.
- David, Hillingdon
Will they come with "hidden" pockets for keeping those "personal items" that Miss Moss seems to indulge in frequently (according to tabloids)?
- Trevor Roll, London
Kate Moss is a very stylish and influential woman and I for one am quite excited that she is designing for Topshop now. The clothes look great and I'm sure they'll be a good quality too. People should lay of Kate but then again in Britain everyone likes to put someone down when they're doing well.
- Lucy, Tooting
I think the clothes all look great and I know I for one will have a look at them when they are on sale. They will be very popular I think, only drawback is that n odoubt the price of them will be huge compared to other clothes in the store.
- Hannah, Lambeth
What worries me more is the fact these clothes are aimed at young impressionable girls who will look up to her. She's not a good role model for them at all and I think its very irresponsible of Topshop to allow her to take that position.
- Sarah-Jane, Richmond
I quite like the look of some of the designs but there is nothing outstanding or incredibly original. I think the line will be a hit as a lot of youg girls admire her but I don't think it will be because the clothes are good, its just because her name is attached to it.
- Bessie, Dagenham
