A montage of clips showing newly discovered 17-year-old Naomi Campbell strutting down a catwalk greets you as you enter the V&A's new exhibition, NAOMI: In Fashion, which traces the supermodel's inimitable career through 100 garments that have come to define its history. .
In the clips, Campbell's walk is more playful and animated for an Alaïa show; soft and serious for a Versace show. It shows the young model experimenting with the way she walks early in her career, adapting to each designer's instructions. But as the exhibition progresses and visitors see Campbell's unmistakable walk become more defined, we learn how the supermodel has come to have a seismic influence on the fashion industry.
The exhibition marks the first time the South Kensington museum has focused on the career of a living model, as it traces Campbell's career and personal life through objects and clothing from Campbell's personal archive, ranging from her early headshots to her 2020 Covid-19. hazmat suit look and her most prized couture ensembles.
Many of the pieces chosen by Campbell, 53, and the V&A curators typify key moments in the model's career, including the pair of blue Vivienne Westwood Anglomania platform pumps (which she wore when she fell on the catwalk in 1993), the lavender tunic and jacket. worn by Campbell for Karl Lagerfeld's SS 1994 ready-to-wear collection and the Lagerfeld dress she wore in 1988 as the first black woman to appear on the cover of FashionParis in the 68 years of history of the magazine
The exhibition does not shy away from some of Campbell's most controversial moments. A standout outfit is the stunning gray Dolce and Gabbana dress she wore on her last day of community service at the New York City Department of Sanitation in March 2007, which she had completed as punishment for throwing a phone at the head of his housekeeper. At the time, Campbell responded to overwhelming press attention by documenting his journey from going to trial and doing community service in an article in W Magazine, titled “The Naomi Diaries” in which she wrote: “I thought if someone was going to write about it, I was going to say it myself. It was part of my life that I went through, I own that. “I chose to wear this dress knowing it would attract attention.”
He later wrote of his behavior: “Some people can handle a drink or a line of cocaine, but I've come to realize that, for me, it's all or nothing, and it has to be nothing. And my life has changed since then. I don't say this to excuse what I did. “I threw the phone away, I take responsibility.”
Alexander McQueen's feather and fur coat, which he wore to the late fashion designer's funeral in 2010, is also on display at the exhibition, which paid tribute to Lee McQueen's long-standing fascination with birds present in some of his last collections before his death. Elsewhere, Campbell decided to pay tribute to Yves Saint Laurent, who was one of the first to support his work, as he was known for defending black models and threatened to withdraw advertising from him. Fashion Paris if they didn't give Campbell his first cover.
However, the most celebrated designer is the late Tunisian-born, Paris-based designer Azzedine Alaïa, who shared a close personal and professional relationship with Campbell after he opened his home and studio to the young model at the beginning of his life. career, and with her mother's permission, Campbell lived with the designer, her partner, and her dogs while she made her mark in the modeling industry. She would continue to call him “Dad” and appear at all of her shows.
The exhibit features the leopard-print knit jumpsuit from the designer's Fall/Winter 1991 ready-to-wear collection, worn by Campbell for the 1991 cover of Interview magazine, while video clips of her Alaïa runway appearances show a young Campbell performing energetic tap choreography, ballet steps and contemporary dance moves down the runway, using skills learned at the Italia Conti performing arts school, where He was a student before he was one. explored at age 17.
The exhibition's upstairs room is filled with a 360° projection of the best moments of Campbell's fashion photography, with 15 minutes of moving images curated by former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. They feature shots of key covers, like the one from 2009. harper's bazaar cover that showed Campbell dressed in a leopard-print dress, running alongside a running leopard, the model's story. Fashion covers, as well as her 2022 cover, taken while cradling her first baby, born via a surrogate when she was 50.
A portion of the exhibition focuses on Campbell's well-known activism work, in which she has advocated for racial equality from a young age, joining the Black Girls Coalition in 1989 and spearheading Italian Vogue's 'Black Issue' in 2007. There is also a section that explores her relationship with Nelson Mandela, who once called her his “honorary granddaughter,” and shows photographs of the couple embracing, taken from Campbell's personal collection.
NAOMI: In fashion, Supported by BOSS, it opens from 22 June 2024 to 6 April 2025. Tickets are available on the V&A website here.
