Back in 1993, Calvin Klein sent a young, madly-in-love couple - she a little-known model and he an aspiring photographer - on holiday to the Virgin Islands. He then asked them to document their trip.
As we all know, that couple was Kate Moss and Mario Sorrenti and the resulting pictures formed the now iconic '93 Calvin Klein Obsession campaign - raw, honest images that captured first love in its intense, all-consuming glory. He was 20 and she was 18.
As the brand releases never-seen-before pictures for its latest Obsessed fragrance, we talked to both Moss and Sorrenti to find out why they fell for each other and how their passionate relationship changed the course of their careers. After, all no one ever forgets their first love.
Kate Moss
"We were obsessed with each other. It was very passionate; we were really young. I had to go away and travel a lot to work and I remember crying in airports a lot. I'd be in tears saying 'I don't want to go' and he'd calm me and call me 'baby'. He'd always drive me to the airport. It was one of those young relationships that you have. One of us would always be leaving to work. I even lived with his mum for a while. It was heart-wrenching a lot of the time, so when we were together it was huge.
"I liked him straightaway. I first met him on a job. He was a male model when I met him, not a photographer. Although he was Italian, he seemed really American and all my English friends were like 'yes'. But he had these cowboy boots and I thought, 'I can get rid of those. It doesn't matter what he's wearing.' He had a six-pack, or was it a 12 pack?
"I would never change anything about [the Calvin Klein Obsession campaign]. I look at it now and think I was only three years older than my daughter then. That's weird. I was so young; I was in New York by myself. I just think, 'Oh my god, I was so little and in the big wide world.' I look at Lila and I think, 'God soon she'll be out in the big wide world.' It makes me feel very maternal. If she decided she wanted to go down the modelling route, I'd say yes. Whatever she wants to do.
"You can never advise a teenager. They'll never listen. I would never have listened. My mum tried but I would just do the opposite. I asked my friend's mother once what she did when they're being annoying, and she said 'With my son, when he kicked a door, I told him to kick it harder.' I thought that was genius. And now she's 85 and her son is so successful, I bow down to her. It was very clever - to be strong like that and say 'kick it harder'. If I was a kid and someone had said that to me, I think I would have backed off.
"While Mario and I were together, I lived with his mum, Fran, for a bit and she was hardcore. She was so strict; I had to clean the house and everything. I was given chores. She's Italian and still hardcore - an amazing woman. She taught me a lot. The most important thing she taught me? How to load a dishwasher. That's a life skill I'll never forget. Don't put the glasses at the bottom because they won't wash, go from front to back. When people load the dishwasher wrong, I think 'You don't know Francesca Sorrenti.'
"When Fran and Mario's dad went on holiday, they'd leave us (me, Mario and his brother and sister) in their amazing brownstone in New York. They gave us $200 to go shopping with and would tell us to make that work for a week. Of course, we'd spend it in a day. We'd end up with $20 left, so we'd go to the cash and carry, buy bread and bacon on mass, then some peanut butter and jelly. She never left us alone after that."
Mario Sorrenti:
"It was love at first sight. We met while I was modelling in London and we were both doing a campaign there. As soon as I met her I thought, 'Oh my god.' She took my breath away. We were both really young, just kids. We met at a party and she asked me to come to the next one she was going to. Then I didn't see her for a while, then we bumped into each other and started hanging out a little bit as friends. Then I asked her out and that's how it started.
"It's funny. Because we were young, I never felt like I was obsessed with her. We were in love and we were together. We just did the stuff kids do when they're in love. We started living together and I'd take pictures of her. We were both starting out in our careers. To be honest, I was very passionate about photography and I was really in love with Kate. All those things came together and then Obsession came along. Maybe they saw an obsession in the pictures that I didn't see. I always felt what we had was very pure.
"I loved everything about her. The way she looked, the way she smiled, how sweet she was, how funny she was, the way she walked, the way she was so at ease and carefree, the way she made me feel.
"We went places and did things and I'd take pictures. Sometimes she'd say, 'no I don't want to do that' and sometimes she'd say 'okay cool'. Of course there were disagreements between us, she'd go 'you're always taking pictures, fuck off'. I was always in the dark room printing. I was obsessed with taking pictures and following my passion. She was a part of that. She helped me.
"When I moved from New York to London, she showed me the city, British style and the British way to be - which was all new to me. She introduced me to whole world, a whole style – a new point of view that I fell in love with. I ended up living in London for six years after that.
"I've photographed Kate for the past 25 years on different projects as friends. I've never thought of it as 'working with an ex'. We were always so pleased to see each other – we've always had a connection and an understanding. When we're on set together, we know each other so well that it just goes off. There was never ever any awkwardness.
"Kate hasn't changed much. She's a grown woman obviously and incredibly successful, but she's still that funny, quirky and genuine girl. She's a beautiful woman and there's an aura that was and still is very attractive. That's her mystery."
Calvin Klein Obsessed for Women in on sale now at Debenhams.com
