Mae West said that good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere. Naomi Campbell is in this second group. She has become omnipresent
Mae West said that good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere. Naomi Campbell is in this second group since the top model is omnipresent throughout this year. Since confirming that she had become a mother, the British mannequin has not stopped working. If we do just a brief review of some of the contracts she signed in 2021, we count that she has been the image of Michael Kors, Saint Laurent, Dsquared2, Calvin Klein, and Burberry, and has also been one of the most prominent stars of the spring-summer 2022 fashion shows. We have seen him move his hips in the Alexander McQueen shows, in the Fendi and Versace collaboration, Balmain, and Lanvin. If these figures were collected by a model who started her career, we would discuss the new star of the moment.
But no, we are talking about the best-known ebony beauty in the world, which started in this sector in 1986 after being discovered in London and became, in a short time, an icon. Peter Lindbergh’s cover of ‘Vogue’ in 1988 already recognized her among the beauties of the 90s, along with Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and Tatjana Patitz. And indeed: Campbell conquered the catwalks with a way of contouring that is already part of her brand and that today she continues to create a school. We verified this a few days ago when she was immediately recognized when she set foot on the catwalk during the last Versace show despite her remoteness and thanks to her iconic movement.
The queen of controversy
The end of the 90s was not as good as expected for a model of her category. Faced with the perfection many of her companions sold, she proved to be a controversial woman. She collected a series of lawsuits that led to her having to do community work, something that, in her case, only increased her legend. While some of her began to know that she had been forgotten, she continued to be on everyone’s lips, thus feeding a new generation that demanded, sometime later, to see her again on the catwalk: to be able to know the myth.
That time of fights with her assistants and her cell phones that flew seems to be over, and Campbell enjoys staying as one of the undisputed queens of the catwalks. With Claudia Schiffer and Elle McPherson almost gone, Crawford focused on launching her daughter. With the misfortune that Linda Evangelista had suffered a few days ago, there is little competition left for Naomi. And it is that, despite Amber Valletta’s strength or Christy Turlington’s strength, the only one who could overshadow Campbell is Kate Moss, and she already had her moment a few years ago.
Naomi (it is unnecessary to say more to know who we are talking about) also fits very well with the times’ air. She cried heartbroken with emotion at the already historic Valentino parade in 2019, in which she returned on a train after 14 years of withdrawal from her. “That was more than a parade for me,” she confessed in ‘Vogue UK.’ “I had only cried once before. I cried because she was overwhelmed and happy. When I looked up and saw all those girls behind me, I thought that the 33-year career had been worth it; that it had been worth staying with Iman; that it had been worth all that to be able to see all those beautiful girls who were being treated like the most elegant women in the world”. And it is that collection sought to claim the beauty of all the women who did not appear in the symbolic photo of Cecil Beaton and Charles James: all those who were not white and Western.
And is that Naomi more than just a model? Her commitment to the fight against racism, which led her to become friends with Nelson Mandela, as well as the loyalty she had shown to her friends, such as when she canceled her presence at the MET gala because no Alaïa piece was on display, has turned her into a woman who has been talked about, is talked about and will be talked about: a true myth that is omnipresent today.