American fashion critics have slammed Kate Moss's designs for Topshop. The line goes on sale in Britain on 1 May, and a week later will also be available in Barneys.
According to independent.co.uk, senior figures at Barneys, the exclusive store in New York that will stock Kate Moss's range are referring to her as "a working-class slag from a crap town".
A sneak preview of Moss's collection on the Topshop website has left some critics underwhelmed.
New York magazine writes "In a word: snore," it said. "Maybe [Topshop] was yearning for clothes that would only look good on people who are hungry and sullen. If so, Topshop hit the jackpot. Whether you love or hate Madonna's H&M collection, at least she tried to put together a cohesive line rather than just copying all the crap that was already hanging in her closet."
The New York Post writes. Under the headline "Duplikate", it described the collection as "oddly familiar". "The line she's delivered looks like Kate copying a lot of other people's stuff Kate's worn before," it said. The Post's website published pictures of Moss taken several years ago together with items she "designed" from her new collection, which look almost identical.
Moss herself has made no secret of her strategy. Last month she told Vogue: "I kind of got bits from my closet. We started dragging things out I liked. We looked at stuff and I said, 'Well, what if it was like this or that, and in this fabric or that?'"
