the gossip…
It seems the Metropolitan Museum's The Model as Muse exhibition, has well and truly catapulted the long-legged creatures back into the gossip stratosphere this week as every day a new story involving one model or another reaches us. From Raquel Zimmermann's bleach blonde locks to original supe Brooke Shields getting tangled up in some after-party fisty cuffs, models are stealing the column inches from the actresses who once stole their covers. Touché! Today, we hear that top dawg Kate Moss is set to accompany her money-spinning Topshop deal with an autobiography. Mossy will of course be backed by a British billionaire - but pal Philip Green will step aside as Richard Branson steps in. The Virgin book deal, said to be worth a cool £1 million, has been on the cards since 2006, but was put on hold while she rebuilt her career following the "Cocaine Kate" drugs scandal. Branson told the Daily Telegraph the book will "make an exciting read," adding that Kate "has led a celebrity life to the max." Here's hoping that with several turbulent rock and roll relationships under her belt, Kate will have more to say than, "Get the London look," between those salacious pages.
Also keeping the model rumour mill churning is Kendra Spears, the 20-year-old American beauty at the centre of a new lawsuit between feuding agency heavyweights Ford and Next. Spears, who is tipped as "the next Cindy Crawford", joins three other models and two bookers from Ford, from whom Next management allegedly poached her. Having recently secured gigs with Gucci, Hermès, Calvin Klein and a Vogue Italia cover, Spears was under an exclusive contract to Ford that is not due to end until 2010. "Signed as a prospect while still a teenager in braces… Ford has painstakingly cultivated Spears - literally, taught her how to be an international fashion model," says the lawsuit, according to NY Daily News. "She is a beautiful, fresh, all-American 'face' who, having been discovered by Ford, trained by Ford, and professionally developed by Ford, is at the precipice of a breakthrough." If only all brace-wearing teenagers were in such high demand… where would we be right now we wonder?