I expected more from Kate Moss than wellness marketing

I’m starting to feel a bit let down by Kate Moss. Growing up in north London, I was a teenager underage drinking in Camden and Hampstead pubs while Moss and the rest of the Primrose Hill set were boozing their way through NW3, and like many Noughties kids she had a lasting influence on me.

I thought (and kind of still do) that denim shorts and Hunter wellies was the height of festival style, and in true millennial fashion I still wear my faded Topshop skinny jeans from circa 2005. To me, Moss was edgy yet beautiful, effortlessly cool, and didn’t seem to give a s*** what anyone thought.

Now, I’m all for personal transformation. Like Kate, since my 30s I’ve swapped stumbling out of bars at 3am and dating troubled indie boys for early mornings, yoga and wild swimming. So I understand why Moss ditched alcohol and partying in favour of gardening in the Cotswolds. The “champagne, coffee, cigarettes and vodka” lifestyle she once espoused just isn’t sustainable. I get it.

But I do wonder if it’s worth reminding celebrities that they don’t have to start a brand to share their “wellness journey”. Last month, Moss launched Cosmoss, described as “self-care created for life’s modern journeys”, selling a range of products from a £20 tin of Dawn Tea to an £120 Sacred Mist.

As expected, Moss looks like a goddess on the brand’s site and Instagram – I’m not surprised that her marketing team thought they could sell £420 of product off the back of her natural beauty – but the rest of the project just feels like a clumsy attempt to cash in on the wellness trend. Yes, the name Cosmoss may have seemed like just too good an opportunity to pass up, as was the fact that they can actually use sea moss in the products. But, and admittedly I’m no expert on the subject, I don’t believe spirituality can’t be found in £105 collagen drops – even if they do contain the “Mythical Tears of Chios”. The irony of Cosmoss’s “soulful, sensual, self-aware” tagline seems to have been somewhat lost here.

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We’re fast learning that wellness is big business – you only have to look at Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop, which is widely quoted to be valued at $250m (£224m). But I sort of expected this from Gwyneth and the various LA celebs touting vitamin gummies, “rituals kits” and rose quartz water bottles. It hardly surprised me to see a Kardashian jump on the bandwagon (eldest sister Kourtney runs lifestyle website Poosh – a “modern guide to living your best life” – and she just launched a supplement brand). But not Kate Moss. I somehow expected more from her.

Yours,

Annabel Grossman

Associate editor