Who Made Kate

Corinne Day, a british photographer, worked a lot and became close friends with Model Kate Moss. It was she who in 1990 shot the first published fashionspread with at the time 15 year old Kate, for the british magazine The Face. Kate's sincere expression, no make up, a mix of designer and second hand clothes made these pictures more of an anti-fashion style. A style that took hold in fashion-, music- and designimagery for several years of the 90's : artlessness became art - some called it "grunge".

Kate Moss by Corinne Day 1990

She started to work as an Art Director at the magazine The Face shooting fashion spreads and covers and later for magazines like the British Vogue. That was when she searched through models polaroids of various agencies and found Kate Moss whom she likened to "the girl next door". They lived, worked and prosepered together for three years. "Corinne's pictures, you might say, made Kate, and Kate made Corinne's reputation." The Evening Standard said in 2007. 

A lot of Corinne Day's work is clearly fashion but her aspiration was to document the lives of the people she knew best, and her "Diary", published in 2000 tells visual stories.

Kate Moss by Corinne Day 1989

Two weeks ago, August 27th Corinne Day died, the cause was a cancerous brain tumor. She was only 48 years old.

"I think fashion magazines are horrible. They're stale and they say the same thing year in and year out."
She said in an interview with the british newspaper The Observer in 1995

Corinne Day

The National Portrait Gallery London