Kate Moss’s Calvin Klein campaigns were sleazy, spectacular and changed fashion forever

When Calvin Klein launched his first campaign with Kate Moss, who turns 50 today, the Croydon-born model acquired icon status almost overnight. She was just 17. Not only did the images end up plastered across every teenager’s bedroom, but they also became synonymous with the look of an era: a pared-back, democratic aesthetic that young people could aspire to from both sides of the class divide. However, the imagery – shot by Herb Ritts, and later Mario Sorrenti and Steven Klein – was also a lightning rod for red-top papers and trade magazines keen to weigh in on “heroin chic”, . Think dark circles under the eyes, a cigarette hung from the lips, skimpy getups. Moss, naturally skinny and mixing with the proverbial wrong crowd since she was 13, was an easy target.