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'All models snort coke'
22/09/2005 11:09 - (SA)
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| Kate Moss arrives at the 2005 CFDA Fashion Awards in New York, in this June 6 2005 file photo. (Stuart Ramson, AP) |
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London - Allegations that a supermodel such as Britain's Kate Moss may have snorted cocaine should come as no surprise as drug abuse is rife in the fashion world and other high-profile industries, models and experts say.
Three big-name brands have rushed to drop or distance themselves from Moss this week after revelations in the British press about her alleged drug habit.
But the chances are that anyone chosen to replace the 31-year-old beauty in a series of lucrative advertising campaigns for fashion retailers H and M and Burberry along with the French label Chanel may also have dabbled in narcotics.
"It is a problem in the industry, but it always has been and it always will be," said willowy, Estonian model Olga Serova, 20.
"It will never disappear," she said, after appearing in a catwalk show by one of Moss's close friends, actress-cum-style-guru Sadie Frost, who presented her latest FrostFrench collection as part of London Fashion Week.
The news about Moss developed, by chance, as Britain's biggest fashion carnival - which is due to end on Thursday - got underway.
This unfortunate coincidence helped fuel the debate about narcotics and models, with one London newspaper claiming that revellers at several after-show parties this week were snorting cocaine like it was going out of fashion.
'Everybody does it'
"They (models) all do it, I am sorry. Everybody does it," said Natasha Lewis, 28, a freelance presenter on a fashion television channel.
"It is their new thing, what can you do?" she said after attending the FrostFrench spring/summer 2006 show.
The collection was developed with Frost's designer friend Jemima French.
The Evening Standard newspaper offered a rare insight into the world of fashion, after it sent undercover reporters to four of the most prestigious London Fashion Week after-show parties.
Samples taken from toilets at each of the venues found traces of cocaine, the newspaper alleged.
Describing the parties, it said: "Traces of white powder criss-crossed the enamel surfaces of every cistern, while groups of friends discussed their 'stash' as they queued, waiting for the previous group to emerge, sniffing, from the laboratory."
'It's their lives'
John Wilson, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, which organised London Fashion Week, insisted no illegal activity took place at the five-day event and if it ever did the council would stamp down on it straight away.
At the same time he said: "What goes on outside of here, what people do in their own lives, of course is their lives, so it is not for me to be a dictator as to what people should do."
Wilson noted that drug-taking was not specific to the fashion world.
"I don't take the view that there are anymore drugs in this industry than there are in many other high profile activities be it sport, be it music, be it whatever it is," he said.
"It is a part of life these days," Wilson said, while adding that he had never given it a go.
Many models consume cocaine rather than alcohol at parties to have a good time without piling on any extra weight.
"(Drug-taking) has been there forever," said Charlotte Bailey, 22, a design student at the renown St Martin's College in London and one of the backstage helpers on the FrostFrench set.
"I don't know why everyone is so surprised really," she said, referring to the media's hysterical response to the Moss allegations, first reported by the Daily Mirror last week.
The tabloid published grainy video camera stills which appeared to show the supermodel using cocaine in a music studio where her rock-star lover Pete Doherty - a self-confessed drug addict - was recording with his band.
Other newspapers took up the story eagerly, with tabloid titles running a series of lurid allegations about Moss involving sex and drugs.
Turning up the heat, London's Metropolitan Police have said they will investigate the model's alleged cocaine abuse.
- AFP
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