She is paid thousands to model handbags for the world’s most expensive designer brands — so what is Kate Moss doing in a shop that sells cheap imitations from the backstreets of the Turkish resort of Bodrum?
The supermodel, reputedly worth £55 million (Dh316 million), is said to visit warehouse stores that sell the fake bags during her spa holidays in the town. The shops, on Bar Street and Castle Street in the Bodrum Bazaar area, specialise in leather goods known as “super fakes” because they are so carefully made to look like the real thing.
This exclusive picture, right, shows Moss in one of these stores with its owner. And during a trip in March, Moss was filmed visiting another discount store, DB Denzibag. On a two-minute video uploaded on to YouTube by a Turkish user, Moss and a blonde female companion are seen getting out of a blacked-out people-carrier, greeting the store owners and browsing in the shop. Later in the video she and her friend are seen carrying shopping in plastic bags.
According to Aydin Altun, owner of the Be Positive Leather Fashion boutique in Bodrum, Moss pops in to his and rival stores almost every time she visits her favourite detox spa.
He says Moss is known to spend up to £3,000 on bags — but the model, no doubt concerned about what her paymasters at Louis Vuitton might have to say, has recently become a little more shy about having her picture taken.
Altun said on her last trip, Moss insisted that no one was allowed to take a picture of her while she was in his shop. “Kate said that she thought that the quality of the bags was great and that she would buy some if we agreed not to ask for the pictures with her,” he added.
“Even the rich can only buy one Hermes Birkin bag a year. Here they can buy lots of beautiful bags all at once.”
