Kate Moss: Off The Cuff

We know that Kate Moss is a cool customer, but she's never more so than rocking up to her own pop-up shop in London's Marylebone to celebrate the fruits of her collaboration with Equipment. Always ahead of the curve, turning up wearing a shirt from the spring/summer 2017 when we are here to get the first glimpse of the autumn/winter 2016 collection (could there be a cooler way to confirm that there will be more?), she is the walking proof that some collaborations are simply written in the stars.

"I knew about Equipment for ages because they worked with The Kills and I felt like I was a part of it anyway because I used to wear of all their shirts that Jamie would steal," she said of her history with the brand through her relationship with the band's frontman Jamie Hince. "It's really simple and it's very me - it's everything I want to wear."

The supermodel has, impressively, kept her collaborations to a minimum considering the amount that she must be approached. With her most notable British sartorial union with Topshop in the bag, what made her say yes when Equipment came knocking?

"It was a natural, organic thing," she said. "We get on and we have the same taste. I went through their archive and I was like, 'I love this shirt.' I'm not pretending that I'm going to put a show on or something - this was a capsule collection that we threw together."

Supermodel and style-icon status aside, Moss clearly has a natural flair for design and an eye for what people desire while also considering the practicalities of a garment - something that often doesn't translate when a famous name is put to a brand. Case in point? A Lurex shirt that she has added two breast pockets to, to preserve the wearer's dignity. 

"I found a shirt in Brazil," she said of the inspiration point for the black-and-gold striped shirt in the collection. "It's see-through and because of my daughter...you know," she smiled, hinting at the reasons behind the important aforementioned dignity. "And I don't like seeing bras under tops, I think it's really naff, so when I saw this shirt I was like, 'Oh my god, you can wear it without a bra! Even when there aren't any flashbulbs I don't like showing my boobs anymore."

Same can be said of the finer details, such as sleeve length that surely only a true fashion aficionado would pay close attention to. "This school-boy shirt and the army jacket," she said, pointing to pieces in the collection, "they don't make them like this any more. Everyone makes shirt sleeves to here [gesturing her upper wrist]. I wanted to have them here [pointing to the bottom of her hand]."

So, as for her favourite piece from the 25-strong collection of starry, signature-adorned shirts and sweaters to match with the odd skinny jean thrown in?

"I do love the boxy jacket, but I love the heart shirt," she laughed. "The slip dresses maybe. I lived in a slip dress. But I can't really choose one. You know they've doubled the amount of pieces for spring/summer 2017?"

Moss already knows how she's going to wear the collection ("With Tabitha Simmons shoes and a Bulgari bag, that's what I'm wearing right now") and has ideas on former Vogue cover girls who will wear it well - "Lara [Stone] will look good in it and Daria [Werbowy, her co-Equipment campaign star]." But, with the world around her defining her style on a daily basis, how would Moss best sum it up herself?

"Going from grungy to tomboy to really," she said. "I like being dressed up and glamourous as well though - I like doing through the ages. But there isn't really any no for me! I can see big Fifties dresses, and I'm like, 'I really wanna wear that!' Like a Grace Kelly pale blue dress, ahh! But then I'd fuck it up with eyeliner and all that. It always has to be a bit modern for me."

"I don't keep everything. I have a lady that comes over to help once a year and she's like, 'Archive, charity, save,' otherwise its too overwhelming. You get to the point that you can't pull things out of the cupboard," she revealed, adding that she's not averse to a little re-purposing from charity shops herself, even if prices have changed. "It's crazy, when we used to go to jumble sales I would walk away with a binliner full of clothes for ten quid. Like 50p for a pair of flares and I'd cut the legs off and make it into a mini skirt. Now it's insane. It's not like I walk around anymore, but sometimes I drive past one and I'm like, 'Stop the car!'"

Stop the car for Kate Moss x Equipment. It's well worth the meter.