Kate Moss named Diet Coke's latest creative director

Model Kate Moss has been named Diet Coke's latest creative director. She will work on projects including a collection, ad campaign films and events surrounding the brand's 40th anniversary.

Moss said on Friday she was "delighted to join the Diet Coke family". adding, "Love the past collaborations they've done with such amazing names in fashion."

Michael Willeke, Director of Integrated Experience for Europe at Coca-Cola, said the company was "honored to appoint Kate Moss as its new Chief Creative Officer, continuing Diet Coke's rich history of collaboration with some of the biggest names in fashion and culture".

It is striking that in the age of body positivity, a diet drink has partnered with a woman known for her slender physique and the famous statement that "nothing tastes as good as skinny".

Fashion industry publication Women's Wear Daily suggested that the collaboration dates back to a when waifish physiques were i n vogue. Writer Tianwei Zhang described Moss as "an example of the skinny model trend in the early 2000s, associated with models drinking this sugar-free beverage backstage and outside of work hours".

The connection between Diet Coke and fashion is old. Moss follows other fashion faces who have served as creative director. Diet Coke has previously partnered with designers Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs, and the drink was a sponsor of London Fashion Week in February.

The drink has already been name-checked by former models as part of a lean diet to stay lean enough to succeed in the industry. In her 2017 memoir, former model Victoire Maçon Dauxerre wrote about limiting her calorie intake to three apples a day and Diet Coke, while former Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements called the cigarettes and Diet Coke "staple food" for models.

This meeting is part of the 40th anniversary of the drink. First launched in 1982, Diet Coke was the second most popular soft drink in the UK in 2021, just behind whole Coke. Its market share was valued at £217.1million.

Moss denounced "nothing tastes quite like the skinny sensation" in 2018. "It there's so much more diversity now," she told NBC. Megyn Kelly. "I think that's fair. There are so many different sizes, colors and heights."