Kate finds the perfect dress for Topshop ... under her bed

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Fringe benefits: Kate Moss sports a new look

But when Kate Moss steps on the red carpet for the Fashion Rocks charity gala she will be in an outfit that is very close to her heart.

The 33-year-old model will be wearing a replica of the vintage dress that snared her a film star – worn the night she met and fell in love with Johnny Depp.

Kate has kept the original – a vintage flapper dress with ornate beading, made in the Twenties – in a box under her bed since meeting the actor in New York in February 1994, shortly after his success in Edward Scissorhands.

The new version is almost identical, except that it has been embroidered with an astonishing 60,000 Swarovski precision-cut crystal glass pieces for the Fashion Rocks event on Thursday.

Immediately after the Royal Albert Hall extravaganza, the dress will be displayed and auctioned at the Central London flagship store of Topshop, for whom Kate is a designer.

There will also be 500 limited edition copies on sale for £250.

The new dress was designed after Swarovski approached Topshop and the model in June to come up with an idea for fashion's charity gala, which takes place every two years.

A source said: 'This dress was obviously very close to Kate's heart. Topshop were struggling for a good idea and she just said, "I've got the perfect dress at home".

'She has kept it in a display box under her bed for years. The original is an eau de nil (pale green) dress and very, very delicate.'

Beaders have been working for weeks on the new garment, handstitching each piece of crystal.

Topshop boss Sir Philip Green said: 'The dress is made and Kate tried it on yesterday. I saw it on her. It's sensational. She loves it.'

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Lovers: Johnny Depp and Kate Moss in 1997; the year they split up

Fashion Rocks will be hosted by Uma Thurman and performers include Joss Stone, Alicia Keys, Razorlight and Lily Allen.

Kate met Depp, 44, when she was 20. He was getting over his failed engagement to actress Winona Ryder but was as smitten by her as she was with him.

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£6m: The three-storey detached home in St Johns Wood Moss is believed to be buying

She said during their relationship: 'I knew from the first moment we talked that we were going to be together.'

However, they split three years later and Depp married French singer Vanessa Paradis in 1998, settling down to a quieter life.

Kate's friends hope her break-up from junkie singer Pete Doherty will have the same effect for her. The supermodel is in talks to sell her London home to American singer Courtney Love for £3million – because it carries too many memories of her ex-fiance Pete Doherty.

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£3.25million: The three-bedroom St John's Wood home Courtney Love may buy

Kate has told friends she is selling over the sadness at her summer break-up with Babyshambles singer Doherty, with whom she shared the three-bedroom home in St John's Wood, North London.

'There is still a lot of Pete's stuff there and Kate says it is just too painful for her to be around,' said a friend. It is on sale for £3.25million but sources say Kate has offered it to Courtney for a 'mate's rate' of £3million.

It is rumoured that Kate is buying a three-storey detached home, also in St John's Wood, for about £6million.

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