ABSTRACT
The face of Kate Moss is reflected in a mirror.The mirror is propped up on a chest of drawers at which the model stands, her back to us. She is dressed only in a vest top and briefs and occupies a room suggesting a casual lifestyle: magazines are piled up in one corner; rather than a curtain, a diaphanous sheet hangs in front of a window; two pieces of broken glass lie on the floor. The snapshot style of the photograph (see Figure 8.1) seems to confirm the idea that we are looking at a spontaneous moment in the life of Moss; a connotation anchored by the title that has often accompanied the image, Kate’s Flat,1993. Just over a decade later in a very different photograph (yet one with parallels to its predecessor), the actress Julianne Moore is staring intently at the reflections in large shards of a broken mirror that are dramatically spread across a carpeted floor. She is on her knees, bent over the glass, dressed in a clean white blouse, tight grey skirt and white high-heeled shoes. Moore’s face is made-up with dark eye shadow and neat, but pronounced eyebrows. A silver drop earring and rings on fingers are revealed as Moore holds back her long, immaculately coiffed hair that is backlit from a bright, white window.The light also illuminates the marbled steps behind her.
