Kate Moss Best Career Moments

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10 Huge Moments In Birthday Girl Kate Moss’s Career

5:30 pm, January 16th | by Meredith Lepore

Kate Moss turns 39 today, if you can believe it. It seems like just yesterday she was posing in a wife beater and baggy jeans while smoking a cigarette. Yes, there were a few rough patches here and there, but for the most part Kate has had a smashing career. Moss will go down in history as one of the most successful fashion models of all time. She has also been firmly entrenched in our pop culture canon — who can forget her famous motto “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”? Let’s take a look at some of her biggest career moments.

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1.Unknown Kate Moss struggles to find work

Her thin, petite frame doesn't measure up with the Cindy Crawfords and Claudia Schiffers of the era. She continues to model part timeuntil she finishes high school.

Of course, Kate didn't have a very glamorous start to her career. One of the first shoots for then-16-year-old Moss required her to be naked. The process was so upsetting for the young teen that she suffered anxiety for years afterward. However, she clearly got comfortable with posing nude...

2.Calvin Klein enters the picture

Kate lands a gig that will define her career when she meets with the casting agent for Calvin Klein.

''She has this childlike, womanlike thing. It's a kind of sexiness that I think is very exciting,'' Calvin Klein tells PEOPLE. The ads hit magazines and billboards in Spring 1993, featuring a topless Moss alongside a shirtless Mark Wahlberg. The ads are controversial, in part because of Kate's youthful appearance, but are also overwhelmingly popular. They cement Kate's place in pop culture forever.

3.Kate's popularity soars even as she becomes a figure of controversy

Kate lands more and more high profile campaigns including Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Gucci. She becomes the poster child for the "heroin chic" look in 1993. Then President Bill Clinton speaks out against the growing popularity of the "heroin chic" look.

"It was just the time. It was a swing from more buxom girls like Cindy Crawford and people were shocked to see what they called a 'waif'. What can you say? How many times can you say 'I'm not anorexic'?" Kate later said. When Kate continues to be attacked for being a terrible role model because of her anorexic look, Moss defends her eating habits. ''I try to eat so I won't be so waiflike,'' she tells PEOPLE, ''but even if I do, I'm not going to become this voluptuous thing.''

4.Her anti-supermodel look makes her a supermodel

Though Kate is different physically than her friends Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, she holds her own.

Her pop culture status landed her roles, mostly playing herself in "Unzipped" (1995), "Catwalk" (1996), "Beautopia" (1998), and "Original Copies" (1999).

5.Kate pretty much invents skinny jeans

Solidifying her status as a style icon, Kate Moss should really get the credit for the skinny jeans trend. In 2004, she was photographed with her lean jeans tucked into her boots and fashion history was made. The next time you pull on your own skinnies, think of Kate!

6.Her 2005 cocaine scandal doubles her salary

After taking a break from modeling, having a baby and gaining a little weight, Kate was caught snorting cocaine in 2005 and was immediately dropped by high-profile brands like Chanel, Burberry, and H&M. But any press is good press and since then, according to The Cut, Moss's earnings have doubled. In the year after the scandal Moss earned $5 million, in 2006 she earned $8 million and in 2007 she pulled in over $9 million. Those three years were some of her best ever, financially.

7.Kate's career comeback

Though the scandal didn't end up hurting too much in the long run, Kate took a break. She focused on her daughter (and went to rehab). In 2006 Kate made a major career comeback, starring in more than 10 major campaigns for fall, including Burberry. "She's more in demand than ever," a source told PEOPLE in 2006.

8.Kate Moss, designer

In 2007 TopShop approached Kate about designing, wanting to capitalize on her status as a style icon. She told Vogue, "All that dressing up makes me say, 'What do I want to wear? What do I want to do with Topshop?' It all kind of leads into the other things."

9.Kate is considered one of the most successful models of all time

In 2007 Moss was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for having "the face that has never gone out of style." TIME said that after nearly two decades in the fashion industry, "Moss remains, hip, really hip, a first responder in the advance guard of style…Her kind of prolonged cool takes not just hard work and great bones but also an infallible chic-tracking system."

Today Kate Moss has an estimated net worth of $70 million dollars.

10.Kate starts opening up to the press

The notoriously private Kate Moss has done very few interviews in her life, but 2012 marked the beginning of a more open phase. She published her new book, The Kate Moss Book, and did a spread for Vanity Fair as well as another candid article with TIME. Now The Telegraph is reporting that a Kate Moss documentary is in the works.