Diet Coke is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2022 and the soft drink company has signed famed queen of the 90s, Kate Moss, for a rumoured $A9 million to be the brand’s “creative director”.
The 48-year-old model said on Friday she was “thrilled to join the Diet Coke family”, adding: “I love the past collaborations they’ve done with such incredible names in fashion.”
Diet Coke has previously worked with the likes of fashionistas such as Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs.
What Moss is expected to do in her new role isn’t entirely clear, with Coke’s integrated experience director for Europe, Michael Willeke, attempting to explain things.
“[Coca-Cola] was honoured to appoint Kate Moss as our new creative director, continuing Diet Coke’s rich history of collaborating with some of the biggest names in fashion and culture,” Willeke said.
However, Moss’ appointment hasn’t thrilled everyone, considering she was the poster girl for ultra skinny, waife, “heroin chic” models back in the 90s.
At the time, Moss famously and regrettably said: “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!”
Models at the time regularly regaled their highly restrictive diets to stay slim and get work, with Diet Coke regularly cited as one of the weight loss measures.
In her 2017 memoir Size Zero: My Life as a Disappearing Model, the former French model and actress Victoire Maçon Dauxerre wrote about limiting her calorie intake to just three apples a day and Diet Coke.
Former Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements called cigarettes and Diet Coke “dietary staples” for models.
Writing in the fashion industry publication Women’s Wear Daily, writer Tianwei Zhang argued Moss’ Coke collaboration harked back to a time that many in the industry would prefer to forget.
Zhang described Moss as “a poster child for the skinny model trend in the early aughts which was associated with models drinking this sugar-free beverage backstage and off-duty”.
For her part, even Moss has since denounced the dangerous diets of the time and her famous “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” comment.
In 2018, Moss told NBC’s Megyn Kelly that “there’s so much more diversity now [in the modelling industry]. I think it’s right. There’s so many different sizes and colours and heights. Why would you just be a one-size model and being represented for all of these people? So yes, for sure, it’s better.”
Check out some of the social media reaction below:
Therapy specifically designed to address the trauma women/teens endured during mid-2000's diet culture should be FREE and funded by Kate Moss
— REDACTED (@jacquelyn44) November 10, 2020
i truly thought everyone was lying about kate moss being the creative director for diet coke till now
— aly russell-leclerc (@wolfiefendi) July 2, 2022
My issue with Kate Moss is that she's practically single handedly responsible for the pro-ana movement that harmed so many young people
— DMDR (@Cuntastrophe) July 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/BobbyBloomfieId/status/1542988271411609600
I am so tired of celebrity culture @CocaCola can we please move on from this valueless nonsense – Diet Coke names Kate Moss as creative director via @FashionUnited https://t.co/iz2h0KcMlb
— Sass Brown (@sassbrown01) July 1, 2022
