Will Kate Moss put Topshop back in fashion? - Financial Times

Old model: Kate Moss and Sir Philip at London Fashion Week

Ten years ago, Topshop, the fast-fashion retailer, pioneered a dazzling new model for the high street, permanently changing the mass-market stakes with its cutting-edge celebrity partnerships and savvy repackaging of catwalk trends at low prices.

Earlier this week, the company owned by Sir Philip Green, announced its latest collaboration with a different kind of model: the supermodel Kate Moss. It is the 15th since an inaugural collection was unveiled back in 2007 and the first after a three-year hiatus.

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The 40-piece spring/ summer range for 2014 will encompass prêt-à-porter, shoes and accessories designed by Ms Moss alongside the group’s creative director Kate Phelan and uber-stylist Katy England. It will arrive in stores next April.

“I have really missed being involved in the design process and working with the team,” says Ms Moss, who many believed would look to a more upmarket or even luxury brand for her next collaboration. “It feels like I’m back at home working for Topshop.”

But is breathing life into this once-shelved partnership a good idea or simply being rolled out for lack of a better one?

“We have entered the era of collaboration overload – more and more customers find the concept tired and outdated,” says Marissa Vosper, senior strategist at Wolff Olins, the brand consultancy. She adds that the fast-fashion follower is more knowledgeable and demanding than ever, and that partnerships with actual designers rather than celebrity stars are becoming a more popular route for brands seeking to appeal to a more discerning fan.

“Kate Moss undeniably had huge success with the previous capsules and is a brand in her own right,” she says. “But whether she is able to come up with the right execution and vision for today’s highly competitive marketplace is uncertain. There are a lot of newer, younger and very talented voices with as much, if not more power, at work in the retail landscape.”

The cautious choice of marketing strategy has led some to wonder if the once must-have label for any aspiring fashion follower is stuck in something of a stylistic rut. The retailer has struggled of late to identify a core customer demographic , especially as it avoids exposure to a stagnant domestic market with its rapid international expansion plans.

A collaboration with a model such as Cara Delevingne, the hard-partying, fun-loving and much idolised British model of the moment, would likely have provided the brand with kudos both home and abroad: instead she has just been signed by La Boo, a new Japanese online mall targeting teenage and early-20s girls.

Unsurprisingly, Sir Philip is convinced of Ms Moss’s enduring influence and appeal as an emblem of British style with a distinctive signature look. “Show me anybody with better fashion credibility. She’s spent 20 years in the industry – who knows the business better?” he said following Tuesday’s announcement.

And some industry observers say that while Ms Moss may not bring anything new to the Topshop rails, her quintessential look honed over decades brings a solid consistency which could prove valuable as it enters new markets.

Sir Philip said this week that on top of plans to take the Kate Moss collection into more than 40 countries, he also wants to launch it in the hitherto untapped Chinese market. He hopes to strike a deal to open 30 pop-up boutiques within mainland department stores. “I think it will be bigger around the globe than ever,” he added.

Ms Vosper agrees that the partnership could thrive in the world’s second-biggest economy and most important contemporary fashion market. Ms Moss “garners particular admiration from the Asian consumer, even if her aesthetic has become a little outdated in the west”, she says.

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