It's never easy to follow in a famous parent's footsteps. When that famous parent is Kate Moss – supermodel, icon and one of Britain's most powerful fashion players – the pressure to be successful must be immense.
Arguably the most well-known, well-loved British model of her generation, Kate has worked with every fashion great – Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Tom Ford and Vivienne Westwood included.
© Getty Images for GucciThis Friday, the supermodel celebrates her 52nd birthday. Still in demand, her longevity is as legendary as her unique, off-kilter beauty. All things considered, no one would have blamed her only daughter, Lila Moss, for eschewing modelling entirely to become, say, an accountant. A less glamorous profession, yes – but at least one that wouldn’t invite comparison.
Following in her parents' footsteps
But if comparison is the thief of joy, it has stolen nothing from the accomplished Lila. While it would be false to say that she hasn't benefitted from her parents' impeccable contacts – her father is the publisher Jefferson Hack, owner of influential fashion and culture tomes Dazed (formerly Dazed and Confused) and AnOther magazines – at 23 she has carved out her own unique niche in the fashion world, not as "Kate's daughter" but as a successful young woman in her own right, with her own mind, her own modelling portfolio and her own business acumen.
"I wouldn't underestimate Lila," says the fashion consultant Mandi Lennard. "She is collaborative and laser-focused – not merely 'the model', but a testament to Kate." Lila has inherited her mother's drive as well as her beauty. For while Kate might have a lifelong reputation as a party girl, when it comes to business, pleasure takes a back seat. You don’t build a net worth estimated at £55m, as Kate has done, by sleeping on the job.
Having built and sustained her own global brand, never is this focus more apparent than when it comes to the serious business of building an equally strong and successful brand for her own daughter.
Ever since Lila made her debut on the cover of Italian Vogue in 2016, aged 13 (alongside her mother and photographed by Kate’s ex-boyfriend, Mario Sorrenti), her career has been micromanaged with extreme care by her mother. It's no coincidence that Kate launched her talent agency, Kate Moss Agency (KMA), in 2016, the year Lila started modelling seriously.
"Kate hasn't pushed Lila into the spotlight – she's engineered gravity around her. That's the real mastery. One decisive cultural moment to establish lineage and seriousness – the Vogue Italia cover did that in a single stroke – and then, crucially, she stepped back. No social-media stage-mother stuff and nonsense," says the leading PR expert Mark Borkowski.
© InstagramNor is it an accident that the lead image on KMA's website is Lila holding a bottle of Crystal Emerald, the new scent by Versace. Featuring Lila dressed in an emerald sequin sheath dress, the glossy ad is just the latest of many recent campaigns in which she’s been cast.
In 2025, she starred in lucrative campaigns for Gucci, Gap, DKNY and Converse x Isabel Marant, and appeared on three international Vogue covers. And in 2024, Lila fronted a Fendi campaign alongside her mother for their Peekaboo handbag. She also walked for a slew of top-flight fashion brands, including Burberry, Coperni, H&M, Victoria’s Secret and Versace.
Kate hasn't pushed Lila into the spotlight – she's engineered gravity around her. That's the real mastery.
A blossoming businesswoman
Lila’s hard work – and her mother’s clever management – is paying dividends. In December, accounts for Grace Grove, the company Lila set up in 2021 to channel her earnings (named partly after the road in Highgate, North London, where she grew up, while Grace is her middle name), showed that she made a £1m profit in 2024, an impressive figure that transcends any notion that her success is the result of connections alone.
"Lila knows she’ll always be compared to Kate but she’s sanguine about it," says one friend. "She'd be the first to admit she’s benefited from her parentage. But instead of letting it define her, it’s made her even more determined to make her own mark."
And she already has, ever since she kickstarted her career by opening and closing the prestigious Miu Miu show in Paris in 2021, aged 18.
© GC Images"Most celebrity offspring borrow proximity and hope it passes for magnetism. Lila has something rarer: she has a level of sublime competence," says Mark. "She’s turned access into craft, and last year’s seven-figure earnings is a market response. The industry doesn’t pay sentiment; it pays utility.
"While Lila may be following in Kate’s footsteps as the face of Versace, Isabel Marant and DKNY, she already has one feather in her cap that her mother doesn’t share. Last July, she revealed that she’d been collaborating with the toy manufacturer Mattel to create a Barbie doll in her image – complete with a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) on the iconic doll’s right arm and an insulin pump on her left thigh.
As well as being a first for the Moss duo, it’s also the first Barbie ever made to represent living with Type 1 Diabetes. Since being diagnosed aged 12, Lila has been a powerful advocate for raising awareness of a condition that’s estimated to affect 9.5 million people globally. Rather than hiding her monitoring equipment when she’s modelling, she shows it openly. "I got so many messages from people saying that seeing me helped them, or their children, feel more proud and represented," she has said. "I’m so happy I can do this through my work."
© Dave Benett/Getty ImagesOne happy family
No one is happier for Lila’s success than Kate. The two are extremely close, often dressing in similar outfits, while Lila has revealed that she enjoys borrowing 2000s-era clothes from Kate's wardrobe. They were pictured holidaying together in Formentera in June, as well as hanging out at Paris Fashion Week in October.
Lila is equally close to her father Jefferson, who separated from Kate in 2004, when Lila was little, but has remained on good terms with her. According to friends, they’re functional co-parents, their harmonious approach contributing to Lila’s warm personality and laidback ease.
"Lila is a mix of both: she has Kate’s fun-loving spirit and Jefferson’s calmness," says a friend. "Her mum might be a household name but her dad is just as tenacious. It’s not easy to run a publishing house but Jefferson has survived. Like Kate, he knows the fashion industry inside out and has guided Lila quietly."
Kate is shrewd. She knows the value of her own lineage and how it stands to benefit Lila’s career. Lila is her passion project.
Kate, meanwhile, has steered her daughter with a steely grip combined with a deep knowledge of the fashion industry that can only come from having been at the top of the game ever since being discovered at JFK airport aged 14.
"Lila was always destined to be model royalty," says one luxury brand consultant who has worked closely with her and Kate. "The phrase 'nepo model' is bandied about a lot, but with the exception of Kaia Gerber [whose mother is Cindy Crawford], only Lila is placed to be a second-gen super. Kendall Jenner, Lily-Rose Depp and the Hadid sisters are nepo models, but their mothers weren’t supermodels. Kate is shrewd. She knows the value of her own lineage and how it stands to benefit Lila’s career. Lila is her passion project."
"Lila retracing Kate's designer alliances is institutional trust being transferred," notes Mark. "Fashion rewards continuity and bloodlines that understand the rules. This is mentorship, not management. Kate learnt the hard way that myth requires space, that visibility must be drip-fed. Lila isn't being hyped; she's being positioned. The result is a career that feels inevitable rather than manufactured – which, in today's frantic influencer economy, is a subversive strategy."
© WireImage"The chemistry between them works because it isn’t cosplay," adds Mark. "It appears to be succession planning – a Moss dynasty. Together they form a neat pincer movement on the culture: Kate as the original myth, all cigarette smoke noir, backstage grunge and anti-perfection, with Lila as the clean-lined heir who understands that today’s rebellion is restraint. Brands like that. Editors love it. The public senses it’s authentic."
Words by: Laura Craik
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