Kate Moss Is Teens' Role Model

Despite being accused of influencing teenagers to become skinny, despite the cocaine addiction that she has struggled years before, and despite the drama surrounding her love life —

Kate Moss is the top role model for teens, especially for those who want to be famous!


In a poll conducted by website Intotheblue.co.uk earlier this month, 68% of the 1,032 16-year-olds have chosen the British supermodel as their role model. The same survey has also showed that more than half of the teenagers do not want a career — they just want to be famous.

Asked "What would you like to do for your career?", 54 percent of the teenagers have answered "Become a celebrity."

Kate Moss obviously tops the survey because of her fame. She has become brand name in the fashion industry today. Not only does she maintains a prestigious modeling career even in her mid-30s, her resume has also expanded by launching a highly successful clothing line with U.K. retailer Topshop, marketing a range of perfumes, getting deals to design collection of handbags and fashion accessories for luxury design houses, a fashion stylist, and an occasional singer, writer, and actress.

Who would have thought that this woman will rise up to become the celebrated "Kate Moss"? She has not even dream of being a model in her younger years. She still can't quite believe it, even now. She still thinks she's blagging it a bit, but nobody's cottoned on yet.

"I'm still having a wonderful time modeling. In career terms, things have never been better," the supermodel admits in her latest interview with Britain's Grazia magazine.

Recalling how she decided to give modeling a try, Kate Moss shares:

"I was only 14, so I hadn't got around to thinking about what I wanted to do. I had this lovely geography teacher, and I asked her whether she thought I should give modeling a try, and she said, 'Kate, just give it a go. If it doesn't work out, you can always go to college.'"

But contrary to the teenagers who look up to Kate Moss because of her fame, the supermodel does not like popularity. She values modeling as a career, not as a mere tool to become famous.

"Modeling has given me insights and experience that I can now use in other ways. Sometimes, I don't like (the fame), but then I've got to deal with it, so I do. You know, I just wanted to be good at my job, I never wanted to be famous, but that happens to come with it."

Abbey Lee Kershaw: Hippy Model (With Million-Dollar Bank Account)

"An elite performer is always put under some sort of extreme pressure that the rest of society can argue and might not quite understand."

Dubbed as the "Hippy Model (with the million-dollar bank account)," rising fashion icon Abbey Lee Kershaw graces Australian television show Today Tonight and talks about the "crazy, fast life" she lives in and the controversies surrounding crazy shoes and being thin.

Now at 22, she is ranked at the top 10 models of the world, hitting the US catwalks and turning heads wherever she goes. The fashion industry loves her cool, fresh-girl image - "so laid-back, so relaxed but at the same time so fashion perfect."

"I don't know if I have a plan B. I'm just waiting for plan A to get bigger," Abbey Lee Kershaw says of her rising modeling career.

"It's crazy. It's a very fast life. I generally spent most of the time on planes, at airports, in studios, at shows - like all over the place. It's very fast. It's always something going on. You'll never really got the time to do your washing a little and... breathe."

But aside from her hippy image, Abbey Lee Kershaw's popularity has also been ironically boosted by catwalk disasters. She has tore a knee ligament when she fell in Rodarte's spring 2009 show because of the super-high heels. She has also fainted at the Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2009 Runway from the combination of the tight corset she wore and her high heels.

"Hopefully (the shoes are) going to come back down soon, because health and safety regulations have to come into play at some point," she says laughing.

Speaking of health, Abbey Lee Kershaw replies with an analogy when asked about what she feels of the pressures at the top of the industry for staying thin:

"That's like asking a bodybuilder how they feel about the pressures to be incredibly muscly. An elite performer is always put under some sort of extreme pressure that the rest of society can argue and might not quite understand."

Having her biggest season in barely two years, Abbey Lee Kershaw is seen as one those "really good models" in the industry that clients intend to keep for the long run.

Tyra Banks Launches Plus-Size Teen Model Search!

Tyra Banks raises a new challenge for the fashion industry as she launches the first-ever modeling competition for plus-sized teens!


"Tyra's Fiercely Real Teen Model Search" searches the country for plus-sized girls aged 13-19 and between 5'9" and 6'1".

"I've always felt it was my mission to expand the narrow perceptions of beauty; through America's Next Top Model, True Beauty and The Tyra Show I challenge industry and universal standards by featuring and celebrating non-traditional beauty, and stressing that true beauty is both inside and out," says the supermodel of fierceness.

The modeling competition will not air on TV but will be launched exclusively on The Tyra Show website where the young curvy models will be presented to the community.

But wait there's more!

The winning plus-sized teen model will get 1-year modeling contract with Wilhelmina modeling agency, a fashion spread on Tyra's MagaLine (to be shot by the supermodel herself), a cover photo with Tyra Banks on Tyra's MagaLine, and a spread in a major fashion magazine.

For all the effort, Tyra Banks says:

"Plus-sized tends to have a negative connotation and I want young girls to realize that what's considered plus-sized is the average American woman. That woman is healthy, fit and beautiful. Adolescence is such an impressionable time in a young woman's life, and I hope this contest helps teen girls discover their own beauty from the inside out."


For more information about this casting, please go to the New Faces Casting Calls page and click on "Tyra's Fiercely Real Teen Model Search."

"Models have a sell-by date!" - Heidi Klum

Modeling is a young person's game, they say. Except for those few supermodels who are able to land major modeling projects after 40, most models are just like foods that spoil after a certain age.

Heidi Klum expands this idea in the latest issue of InStyle magazine.


"Models have a sell-by date," says the 36-year-old German-born supermodel in her interview. Admitting that there are certain modeling jobs that she does not do anymore, Heidi Klum explains:

"Like the young, sexy, cute things for teenagers, or even 25-year-old girls. I go in a different bracket now."

And by different bracket, the supermodel means modeling for Victoria's Secret lingerie and other advertising campaigns while becoming an entrepreneur and TV personality all at the same time.

For instance, Heidi Klum joined "Project Runway" in 2004 as the reality show's host, judge and executive producer. Aside from her hosting and business career, she has also delved into acting and fashion designing while doing occasional works as an artist, writer, and singer.

Heidi Klum's success is best reflected in the 2009 Forbes magazine's survey of the world's top earning models which estimated the supermodel's income at $16 million.

And if a successful marriage life is also an essential part of Heidi Klum's new modeling bracket, she has emerged victorious.

After her marriage to British singer Seal in 2005, Heidi Klum is now a proud mother-of-four. She has recently changed her last name to "Samuel" for her husband.

Heidi Klum's achievements can become a standard for successful models in the 30s-40s bracket:

1. an enduring modeling career
2. expansion into television and film
3. a growing commercial enterprise
4. a rewarding side-business with personal hobbies and interests
5. successful marriage life

Wow! Heidi Klum's "different bracket" in modeling is more demanding than in the lower years. Naomi Campbell, better strike whilst the iron is hot!