By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) – Naomi Campbell brings her stylish looks and runway walk to London’s V&A this week in a new exhibition that the museum says is the first of its kind dedicated to a model.
“Naomi: In Fashion” looks at the career of one of fashion’s most recognisable faces through key looks she has modelled as well as her influence and activism.
The exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday, features glamorous frocks, towering heels, as well as a display of Campbell’s fashion photos and magazine covers, curated by former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful.
“There’s been so many exhibitions about fashion designers and fashion photographers but the model is often left out of the story,” Sonnet Stanfill, senior curator of fashion at the V&A, told Reuters on Wednesday.
“And Naomi Campbell’s remarkable 40-year career is really… proving that she’s an exemplar in the field, because not only is she working with the best designers and photographers, magazines in the industry, but also she uses her platform to spotlight the careers of emerging creatives as well.”
Campbell, 54, began her career as a teenager and has modelled for fashion heavyweights like Versace, Chanel, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana, among many others. She has also championed African designers.
She was the first Black model to appear on the covers of French Vogue and Time magazine and was also the first Black model on the cover of American Vogue’s key September issue.
Outfits on display include a mix of famous fashion names such as the late Gianni Versace and Azzedine Alaïa as well as African designers including Kenneth Ize and Thebe Magugu.
The sparkling Dolce & Gabbana dress Naomi Campbell wore on her last day of community service at a New York garbage depot -after pleading guilty to reckless assault for throwing a phone at her housekeeper during a dispute over a pair of jeans – as well as the blue platform shoes in which she fell on the catwalk at Vivienne Westwood’s Autumn-Winter 1993 show also feature.
The exhibition, which runs until April 6, 2025, includes written and audio commentary from Campbell reminiscing over key moments of her career, as well as a makeshift catwalk for those wanting to imitate her runway walk.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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