French vogue bucks industry pressure by celebrating Moss

French Vogue has bucked industry pressure by devoting its December issue to Kate Moss, who lost several lucrative advertising contracts after tabloids published pictures showing the model apparently snorting cocaine.

The issue, scheduled to hit news-stands tomorrow, features four different covers of Moss with the tagline: Scandalous beauty.

Vogue quotes leading industry figures including Francois-Henri Pinault, whose retail empire PPR includes Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, speaking in support of the fashion model.

“If you use Kate Moss as a symbol of freedom, of transgression, you have to be honest. You can’t use her image to convey those kinds of messages and then be surprised that she breaks the rules in her private life,” Pinault told the magazine. YSL features Moss in advertisements for its fragrance Opium.

Moss rose to fame in the 1990s when her skinny frame prompted criticism that the fashion industry was glorifying “heroin chic”.

She lost contracts with H&M, Burberry and Chanel after the Daily Mirror published grainy images of Moss allegedly snorting cocaine with her boyfriend Pete Doherty, the troubled singer of rock band Babyshambles.

Since leaving an Arizona drug rehabilitation centre, she has shot an advertising campaign for Italian designer Roberto Cavalli.

Vogue had asked Moss to be guest editor of its December issue before the summer and did not waver when she entered rehab in late September.

“We feel that it was very important for the magazine to support her during that time,” French Vogue’s artistic director Fabien Baron was quoted as saying by The Daily, a website that covers the fashion industry.

“We like Kate because there’s an idea of danger about her,” he said. “We weren’t going to throw the rocks at her because she got into some trouble.”