Everything you thought you knew about Kate Moss’ infamous ‘party era’ photo is wrong | CNN

EDITOR’S NOTE: In Snap, we look at the power of a single photograph, chronicling stories about how both modern and historical images have been made. When photographer Greg Brennan spotted Kate Moss in a fur coat at the bottom of a fire exit, cigarette in hand, he knew he’d stumbled across something special. The year was 2007, and what he didn’t realize is that one of the resulting photos — not even his favorite from the night — would become an emblem of the supermodel’s “party era” and the best-known image of his near-four-decade career. The mid-aughts photo’s enduring appeal is, partly, its mundanity. In that quiet, unguarded moment, Moss was just like any other 30-something having a night out on the town. And yet she is perhaps the only person who could appear that put-together while being ambushed in a stairwell. “It’s kind of a mixture between a ballerina and Janis Joplin,” Brennan said in a video call from his home in London. “It’s very rock ‘n’ roll.” Moss had developed a reputation for enjoying a night out during the “heroin chic” party girl era of the ’90s, as the press did its best (or, perhaps, worst?) to document her every move. N

May 28, 2026 → Jun 14, 2026