Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2017: Kate Moss

British supermodel Kate Moss is the Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2017.
Before I hear you shouting 'what?,' let me explain again that the  Celebrity Naturist might not be a true naturist who hangs out at the campsite each month or who regularly holidays at one of the well-known naturist resorts or nude beaches, but someone who is famous and who has - willingly or not - contributed to the wider acceptance of nudity.
Of course, your first reaction might be that Kate Moss is too sexual, too commercial and too unlike other 'real' persons to be considered for this honor.
Yet, despite all her ads for fashion, her sexiness and sometimes provocativeness, the negative aspects of her lifestyle, one still can't help but feel that Kate Moss sees nudity as something natural and free, and not just as a pose to get in to help sell some clothes, perfumes or magazines.
Yes, she is beautiful and shaped unlike 99 percent of other people, but does that mean that she thinks other people can't go nude?
Her relaxed attitude to nudity, and the frequent holiday shots of her topless or less, show that she is more than just a model.
Like Australia's Elle MacPherson, Kate Moss makes you feel she sees nudity as a normal aspect of life, of humanity.
If because of her, one woman anywhere else feels that yes, she too can do things without clothes, whether sunbathing, swimming, sitting at home naked, wandering around the house or garden naked, then Kate Moss deserves her title of Celebrity Naturist of the Year 2017.
As we are looking toward 2018, one would only hope that more celebrities are brave enough to come out and say they are naturists, just like over the past few years many have 'outed' themselves as gay.
(Photo above by Rankin.)

Real Naturists of the Year 2017: Naked Wanderings

 Belgian couple Nick and Lins of Naked Wanderings are our Real Naturists of the Year 2017.

They discovered naturism and decided to travel around the world and visit naturist resorts, hotels and beaches along the way.
It might not sound original to people who have been naturists for, say, 30 years, and have spent every annual holiday naked at resorts or campings in Spain, France, Croatia or Florida, but it's the enthusiasm that counts.
Nick and Lins went from not knowing anything about naturism to raving enthusiasts, so much so they don't want to have any other holidays but naturist ones and they are willing to travel the world to find out different naturist and cultural experiences.
It feels like what I would have wanted to do. I've been around at least part of the world and had naturist experiences on three continents, but at a much slower rate, spread over several decades.
It all began for me in what was then Yugoslavia, at Koversada in present-day Croatia, and over the years I practiced naturism, mostly on nude beaches, in places like Santa Barbara, California, the Swedish island of Oland, Biograd na Moru again in Croatia/Yugoslavia, Greece, Groede in the Netherlands, Valalta near Rovinj in Croatia, Bredene in Belgium, and Pattaya, Thailand.
The world has grown much smaller since and the naturist part of it much larger, with naturist beaches or resorts now available from Peru and Brazil to South Africa, New Zealand and Thailand.
We wish Nick and Lins the best on their travels, and as any traveling couple should have, they place their reports and opinions on a blog - www.nakedwanderings.com - and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Do Celebrities Hurt or Help?

British supermodel Kate Moss has recorded a promotional video for fashion house Saint Laurent. The unanimous focus in media reports was on her appearing topless in the ads, which, first of all, for Kate Moss, is nothing out of the ordinary, and secondly, for any European woman on the beach, is not that far out of the ordinary either.
So do celebrities appearing topless or naked, either on the beach themselves, or in ads and on posters, help or hurt the cause of non-sexual social nudity?
The ads of course are never related to naturism, since they are only topless and mostly not related to typical naturist activities such as swimming, sunbathing or beach sports. They also only feature 'beautiful' people, models with the body sizes, dimensions and looks unlikely to come in for criticism. Too many comments on naturism go in the direction of body shaming, such as saying people who are not models should not go naked in the first place.
There is also the sexual dimension, which in ads for fashion will always be there.
As long as the ads are not overtly sexual in nature, I believe that ones like the Kate Moss photos above do help in making social nudity more acceptable.
That's why each year, by the end of December, I  come up with a 'Celebrity Naturist of the Year' award as well as a 'Real Naturist of the Year' winner. It's difficult to tell whether those celebrities are true naturists, some of them are, some of them aren't, but I still believe they play a role in promoting social nudity in a world where false modesty is making a return.
For the full Kate Moss/Saint Laurent video, visit Harper's Bazaar at http://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a13985773/kate-moss-in-new-sixties-inspired-saint-laurent-video/
Photos courtesy of Saint Laurent, as published in The Sun and The Daily Mail UK.