Two more labels ditch Moss over cocaine abuse

A three-year contract to promote Chanel's Mademoiselle perfume ends next month and will not be renewed, the firm said yesterday. Burberry also announced that it is to cancel a planned advertising campaign featuring Moss in the wake of the photographs and other lurid stories about her personal life.

The loss of two lucrative contracts in one day follows a decision by the high-street store H&M on Tuesday to scrap a forthcoming campaign featuring the model. Predictions that earlier shows of support for Moss would collapse domino-style if one company decided to sever ties now appear to be accurate.

Burberry and Chanel announced the end of their deals with Moss just hours after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said that any decision to prosecute her would take into account the effect that she has on "impressionable young people". In an indication that she may be made an example of, Sir Ian said that he believed it had been a mistake to allow an unnamed celebrity in a previous case to walk free on a caution.

The specialist crime directorate at Scotland Yard is investigating after pictures were published in the Daily Mirror purporting to show Moss snorting cocaine at a recording studio with her boyfriend Pete Doherty and his rock band, Babyshambles.

Moss, 31, was earning more than £4m a year from contracts with Chanel, Burberry, Christian Dior, the make-up giant Rimmel and the jeweller H Stern.

When the grainy images first appeared last week, the companies either refused to comment or said they would stand by her. But, after announcing that it would give her a "second chance", H&M issued a statement saying Moss's actions were "inconsistent" with the company's anti-drugs policy.

In a statement released last night by Burberry, the company said: "At the current time we had one project scheduled with Kate for this autumn and in the circumstances both Kate and Burberry have mutually agreed that it is inappropriate to go ahead.

"We are saddened by her current circumstances and hope she overcomes her problems as soon as possible."

A spokeswoman for Chanel denied that the model had been sacked. She said: "Kate Moss has a contract until the end of October. The contract finishes at the end of October and we don't have any projects with her."

Moss had worked with Burberry since 1998 and Chanel since 2002, and the loss of two six-figure deals with high-end brands will come as a severe blow to her profile and earning power. She lost the H&M contract despite reported pleas from her friend Stella McCartney, the designer whose clothes were featured in the campaign.

Industry experts said that pressure was now increasing on Moss to break her silence and issue a public apology. The designer Zandra Rhodes said: "She can't be seen to condone the use of drugs. She's going to have to at least look like the habit has gone."

Part of Moss's allure has been her refusal to give interviews or comment on stories about her life. But Jeremy Baker, a senior lecturer in marketing at London Metropolitan University, said: "Kate Moss has got to suffer, throw herself on public opinion and plead for mercy and then she can rebuild her career."