THE MOSS EFFECT

Her face has launched a thousand brands, and after nearly two decades in modelling, Kate Moss's status as a modern icon is assured…

Her face has launched a thousand brands, and after nearly two decades in modelling, Kate Moss's status as a modern icon is assured. But does her style influence people on the street? We asked women in Dublin

Gillian Claffey

Age:21

From:Glasnevin

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Occupation:Hairdresser

Who influences your style?I like Victoria Beckham's style and Kate Moss's.

Is Kate Moss a fashion icon or is she overrated?She is an icon for her clothes. I think that her skinniness isn't something that people should want to copy.

Do you have a favourite Kate Moss look?Her look is very funky. I like the skinny jeans and the leather jackets.

Has she ever insipred you to buy anything?I've bought a few things. I got a few things from her collection when it first came in. A leather jacket, things like that.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?I suppose the way she mixes casual and dressy looks. You know, flat boots with dresses - you see a lot of that around the place.

Has she made the high street a better place?I think so. A lot of people adapt her styles to themselves. You can see something in a magazine and wear it to suit you.

Elaine Coyle

Age:18

From:Monkstown, Co Dublin

Occupation:Student

Who influences your style?Music more than fashion magazines, definitely. I like rocky, indie music: Crystal Castles and bands like that. Indie techno, I suppose you'd call it.

Is Kate Moss a fashion icon or is she overrated?I don't focus on her style. I think she's too skinny. A lot of it wouldn't suit me. That said, I really like what she wore for the festivals like Glastonbury. She made wellies fashionable which has to be a good thing in Ireland.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?Skinny jeans, without a doubt. I have to thank her for that one. They're great - really comfortable and really flattering. Most people can wear them. Flat shoes, too. You don't have to wear heels with everything anymore.

What's your Moss "most wanted" this season?I've had a look at a couple of bits from her new collection. I quite like the look of some of those dresses. They're the kind of things you'd wear around town.

Has she made the high street a better place?I'm not the biggest fan of the high street. I'll buy from two or three specific shops, but I like getting my clothes in places like Camden Market or George's Street Arcade. Kate Moss has definitely improved the fashion on the high street though.

Fiona Curtis

Age:22

From:Finglas

Occupation:Buyer's assistant, Dunnes Stores

Tell us about your outfit?My trousers and top are from Topshop. My scarf is from H&M. The jacket is Savida, from Dunnes. The shoes are from Penneys and the bag is from BT2.

Do you have a favourite Kate Moss look?I like her casual look. I like the skinny pants and the waistcoats and all that. But I love her vintage going out look as well, all the vintage Dior and the long dresses.

Has she ever managed to make you buy anything?Oh yeah, definitely. You see it in the paper and you go out and buy it. She was wearing leather shorts and I was looking at getting a pair to wear with tights and flat shoes. I like the brand of jeans she wears, too. I ran to have a look at her Topshop collection when it came out recently. I didn't think it was as strong as previous seasons. Sometimes I think that Topshop itself is more Kate Moss than the Kate Moss Collection.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?It would be the skinny jeans and pumps and the scarves people wear, and those very fine jersey tops as well. It's all very plain and understated, but it works. The big sunglasses are obviously a big thing as well.

Has she made the high street a better place?Definitely. There's so much more choice in high street shops because of her.

Claire Kennedy (18), Therese Redmond (18), Alice O'Connor (17)

From:Templeogue

Occupation:Students

Who influences your style?

Alice: Alexa Chung, the Olsen twins, Fearne Cotton.

Therese: Lauren Conrad, Audrina Partridge.

Is Kate Moss a fashion icon or is she overrated?

Claire: She's great at what she does. I think that people are out to get her a bit.

Alice: Yeah, I love her style. People should concentrate on that rather than the personal stuff.

Therese: I don't think she's overrated. Her style may not suit everyone but I like it.

Do you have a favourite Kate Moss look?

Claire: I love her vintage dresses.

Alice: I liked the dress that she wore to her birthday. You know the one with all the stars on it. She had the big star on her eye as well.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?

Alice: Probably the rock chick thing and the grungy look.

Claire: The whole casual thing. You can be fashionable without trying too hard.

Therese: I love the fact that she's made it okay to wear boots with dresses.

Has she made the high street a better place?

Claire: She definitely has. You can see the clothes she's wearing in a magazine, and you can go and try them on in the shops and see how they suit you.

Therese: I think that she's made people braver about what they wear. Alice: People are more individual now, I think.

Rebecca McCloskey

Age:15

From:Belfast

Occupation:School student

Tell us about your outfit?

This is a Mighty Boosh T-shirt. I'm going to see them in concert tonight. Everything else - my shoes, jacket, jeans and shades are from Primark.

Who influences your style?Audrey Kitching. She's a model.

Is Kate Moss a fashion icon or is she overrated?I actually think she's overrated. She's alright, but she's not overly pretty. She has okay style, but she's a complete attention seeker.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?Those shorts, I think. You know the denim shorts she was wearing around the festivals and all of that? It's just that Kate Moss wears something and it gets loads of attention. Everyone wants attention so they go out and buy the outfit. The thing is that it's quite easy because you can get stuff that she wears in places like Primark and Topshop a lot cheaper. It doesn't have to be a designer label.

Has she made the high street a better place?Well, the clothes you see on people are better. You're not seeing loads and loads of people running about in tracksuits. People definitely make more of an effort, so I guess it's a good thing.

Karina McCabe

Age:23

From:Crumlin

Occupation:Master's student

Tell us about your outfit?My jeans are Miss Selfridge, I got the top in the George's Street Arcade, my coat is from Dunnes, the boots are Penneys and my bag is Tommy Hilfiger. It was a present from my mum.

Who influences your style?Sienna Miller, Peaches Geldof, Agyness Deyn - I like a lot of that young British crowd.

Is Kate Moss a fashion icon or is she overrated?She's slightly overrated I think, but she does the casual look really well. Maybe she overplays the skinny jeans and waistcoat combination a bit.

What's her biggest influence on what people wear?Skinny jeans, definitely. I was a bit doubtful at first. You wonder whether you're going to end up with carrot legs or something, but actually they can be really flattering. I like the fact that when you wear them you can carry off a top with a bit of volume.

Has she made the high street a better place?She's made fashion more accessible. It's much more acceptable now to mix and match. She models for Rimmel at one end and Burberry at the other. She's not just stuck on the expensive brands and I think that gives people the opportunity to mix their labels with their Penneys tops.

TAKE A WANDER down Grafton Street in Dublin and, whether you realise it or not, you will see a whole series of Kate Moss-inspired snapshots. Skinny jeans and ballet pumps, the scarf loosely draped about a young neck, shrunken biker jackets, gossamer-fine tops layered, one upon another, chunky bangles - the looks may have originated on the catwalk, but Moss secured their place on the high street.

At the start of her career, nobody could have predicted the influence Moss would eventually have on everyday fashion. She was short, boyish and had funny teeth, in an era when supermodel meant Cindy Crawford height, curves, and pearly whites. She was different and controversial. Hers was the most famous face of "heroin chic". That fact alone would normally have led to her remaining on the edge of fashion before dropping off into obscurity. But, somehow, Moss made a leap and landed firmly in the mainstream.

Between drugs and her penchant for bad boys, her personal life presents rich pickings for the gossip magazines, but, oddly, even they seem more interested in Moss's latest favourite item of clothing and how she wears it. They publish the pictures and readers buy the clothes - or a version of the clothes.

In a new book, Kate Moss Style, fashion writer Angela Buttolph tries to get to the root of this phenomenon by charting Moss's career from her first test shots in 1988 right through to her 34th birthday, earlier this year. The clothes are gorgeous, but for the most part they're accessible and adaptable. That's the key to it all. If Moss wears a biker jacket, you will be able to find similar in a boutique for thousands of euro, or a faux version in Penneys for €30.

Sadly, we can't all look like Kate Moss, but at least it's possible to copy her look.