Kate Moss earns £6.1m in the credit crunch
HOME-GROWN superstar Kate Moss is one of the world’s top three models at the age of 36.
And superwaif Kate has the figures, both in the flesh and on her bank statement, to prove it.
Miss Moss has defied the recession to rake in £6.1million over the past year, making her the third highest-paid model in the world, according to a list by financial magazine Forbes.com.
That’s not bad for the girl from Croydon, south London, daughter of a barmaid mother and travel agent father, who climbed from humble beginnings to international stardom
Miss Moss may not have excelled herself at school academically but remains a global fashion icon and has built herself one of the most lucrative modelling careers in the world, having appeared on more than 300 magazine covers.
Despite flirting with controversy and even notoriety with high-profile relationships and a party lifestyle, canny Kate has shown she has a fine business brain.
She has made her money through lucrative modelling campaigns with Versace and Longchamp, the launch of her own ultra-successful fashion line with Topshop, which moved into America earlier this year, and a new fragrance. Kate’s bank balance is topped by Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen, the world’s highest-paid model, who made a cool £17million last year.
Gisele, 29, gave birth to her first child in December, but lost the baby weight immediately and went straight back to work.
German beauty and 36-year-old mother of four Heidi Klum, host of reality TV show Project Runway, comes in second with £11million.
Business experts said fashion houses and retailers, who are feeling the pinch, are making sure their brands are in safe hands – or rather faces – by bringing in only the top beauties.
It is the second year these same three models topped the list, which is largely due to a risk-averse fashion industry that was not looking for new faces in an unstable economic climate, according to Steve Bertoni of Forbes.
He said: “These contracts were written during the doldrums of the recession.
“So when companies decided on the faces of their campaigns, they wanted to play it safe.
“These are the tried and true supermodels of the past decade – the household names of the industry.”
Ivan Bart, of IMG Models, said: “Companies want to know that if they’re putting money behind a talent that she is recession-proof.”
Movie star Orlando Bloom’s Australian girlfriend Miranda Kerr is also still sitting more than pretty at Number 9, with an annual income of £2.7 million, up nearly £700,000 on last year.
