Once I admired Kate. Now I'm just sorry for her

Thousands of Kate clones will dress just like her - and desperately want to be her. But what an irony that she has waited until now to launch her first collection.

The Kate Moss so many women admired has been lost in a drugfuelled haze - and her gamine looks are slipping away.

I grew up thinking she was not only a supermodel, but a role model, too: self-made, stunning and sassy.

And now? I just feel sorry for her.

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Does anyone really want to cast themselves in the image of 2007 Kate - dismal, shabby, unwashed and in thrall to one of the most repugnant men even the world of rock 'n' roll has seen?

He is to blame, of course.

Pete Doherty has not brought out the best in our favourite supermodel. She keeps being snapped with dark circles under her eyes, greasy hair and boring clothes.

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In fact, Kate did not even make the Top Ten in this month's Glamour magazine poll of the world's sexiest women.

That would be normal coming from a group of male voters (they always go for curvier types), but these voters were women!

We have always, always voted for Kate.

Not this time: Number One was Scarlett Johansson, who is constantly photographed in slinky frocks and glossy make-up.

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Kate Moss, with her current fondness for split ends and outdated saggy ankle boots, scraped in at number 20.

When she played a cameo in the stage show of Little Britain, as Vicky Pollard's even rougher sister, many did not immediately realise she was in costume.

Many years ago I, too, had a boyfriend who persuaded me not to wash my hair. It was some kind of strange power thing.

He was something of a scruff himself, and lived in a single C&A jumper. Under his thumb, I wandered around the place all greasy, with no makeup and dull, brown clothes. I didn't really mind; I was in love.

What I did not do was attempt to market a fashion range inspired by my personal look. I wouldn't have expected to get it into Oxfam.

The Kate Moss Topshop collection is not bad.

There are a few pieces (such as the denim hotpants) which look hideous if you do not have her boyish figure. And a few (such as the flat thong sandals) which look hideous even if you do. But the floaty yellow dress, flowery tops and clutch purses are very pretty.

The problem is that these were not designed by the supermodel; they were inspired by Kate'.

So we are, presumably, supposed to buy them because we are inspired by her, too.

But who is inspired by her now?

She seems unhappy, unkempt and short of sleep. That cute, carefree spirit we fell in love with no longer glows around her. She looks less like a working-class princess, more like the Princess Royal.

After remaining glamorously silent, Garbo-style, for years, she has started talking all the time in adverts, like a cocaine addict at a party.

She may actually still be a cocaine addict at a party; she's certainly dating one.

Many hours spent listening to a coke bore (with the verbal diarrhoea which that despicable drug causes) would give anyone a hunched, defeated look.

No woman who looks unwashed can be happy.

The natural look is code for make-up applied so cleverly you can't see it. The genuinely natural look, when no effort has been made at all before leaving the house, suggests low self-esteem.

Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has sniped: "How this stroppy, pinchfaced little coke-snorter from Croydon ever made it is beyond me."

I am not so baffled.

I remember Kate's glowing skin, effortless style and Bambi energy when she was a teenage sensation.

Looking at pictures of her now, it seems like 100 years ago. But she's only 33, the same age as me. I will never be as thin as her, but at least my nose is still the shape God intended.

I hope her Topshop collection will be a success, because the confidence boost may be just what Kate needs.

While thousands of teenagers will buy her new range, thousands more of us in our mid-30s would cheer to see Kate Moss turn round to Pete Doherty and say: "I am not just the world's number one supermodel.

"I am not just the UK's hottest export. I am also a successful businesswoman. Now get out of my house." Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.