Naomi Campbell has expressed concern that the fashion industry is “going backwards” on diversity.
The 53-year-old supermodel has been a pioneer in the industry for nearly four decades, being the first black model to appear in several Fashion covers the whole world.
Campbell made the comments while promoting a solo exhibition about his career at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
During a pre-exposure briefing, as reported The timespaid tribute to the work of Edward Enninful, who took steps to increase inclusion during his tenure as the first black editor of British Vogue. However, she said she is “nervous” about the future of the industry.
“Willpower [diversity] stay? “That's a question I don't really want to think about, but it's what I'm thinking about, because as I look at the collections again, I'm starting to get nervous because we're going backwards,” she said on Wednesday (March 13).
“Why do I keep doing what I do? Because my work is not done. I feel like I have to use my voice and my platform to continue with them.”
Campbell has worked to increase diversity in the industry throughout her career. She joined the Black Girls Coalition in 1989 and spearheaded the 2007 “Black Issue.” Vogue Italia.
In 2013, she teamed up with other black models to form an advocacy group, Diversity Coalition, to write an open letter to the governing bodies of global fashion weeks to denounce high-profile designers who wore one or no models of color in that season's programs, considering it a “racist act.”
The exhibition, Naomi: fashionablewill open in June and will chronicle Campbell's nearly 40-year career through 100 select outfits she has worn throughout her time as a model, both on the runway and in her personal life.
Campbell said the exhibit would include “many personal items that I have never shown to anyone.”
Naomi Campbell promoting the exhibition
(Invision)
“There's an intimate side to me that a lot of people don't know and haven't seen, and don't know the stories behind the things I'm going to present,” he said. “It has opened my Pandora's box.”
The exhibition will delve into her early years in Streatham, south London, where she grew up, and chronicle her childhood passion for dancing, before she was approached by a modeling agent while shopping at the age of 15.
Naomi: fashionable It will also explore the 2007 incident in which the model was sentenced to five days of community service after throwing a mobile phone at her maid. The Dolce & Gabbana dress she wore on her last day of community service will be on display.
This is the first time South Kensington Museum has organized an exhibition focusing on the career of a living model.
Naomi: fashionable It will run from June 22, 2024 to April 6, 2025.
