In the clips, Campbell’s posture is more lively and bouncing for an Alaïa show, clean and critical for a Versace display. It depicts the young type experimenting with her move earlier in her career, adapting to fit the needs of each designer. However, as the show progresses and viewers witness Campbell’s undeniable move become more and more defined, we learn how the starlet has come to have a significant impact on the fashion industry.
The show marks the first time the South Kensington exhibition has focused on the, as it tracks Campbell’s career and personal living through objects and garments from Campbell’s private library, ranging from her first headshots, to her 2020 Covid- 19 hazard fit look.
The 53-year-old model’s selection and the V&A designers ‘ selections include the pair of blue Vivienne Westwood Anglomania platform shoes she famously tripped on the catwalk in 1993, the lavender tunic and blazer she wore for Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel SS 1994 ready-to-wear set, and the Lagerfeld dress she wore in 1988 as the first Black woman to appear on the support of VogueParis in the magazine’s 68-year history.
The exhibition does not shy away from some of Campbell’s more controversial moments. The grey bedazzled Dolce and Gabbana dress that she had wore as a punishment for kicking a phone at her housekeeper’s head at the New York City Department of Sanitation on her final day of community service in March 2007 is one of her standout outfits. Campbell at the time responded to the burgeoning media by documenting her trial and community service in a feature in W Magazine titled “The Naomi Diaries,” in which she wrote, “I thought if anyone is 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 made the decision to put on this dress knowing it would draw attention.”
She later wrote of her behaviour: “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 since then, my life has changed. I’m not using this as justification for what I did. I threw the phone, I take responsibility.”
The exhibition, which paid homage to Lee McQueen’s long-standing fascination with birds that were present in some of his final collections before his death, also features the feather and fur Alexander McQueen coat she wore to the late fashion designer’s funeral in 2010 in addition to the exhibition. In another way, Campbell made a note of Yves Saint Laurent, who had a strong support for her work when he was known for supporting Black models and famously threatened to take his Vogue Paris advertisement if Campbell didn’t receive her first cover.
The late Tunisian-born, Paris-based designer Azzedine Alaa, who shared a close personal and professional relationship with Campbell after he opened his home and studio to the young model early in her career, and Campbell lived with the designer, his partner, and their dogs as she made her mark on the modelling industry. She would later refer to him as “Papa” and appear in all of his catwalk appearances.
Campbell wore a leopard-print knitwear bodysuit for the 1991 cover of Interview magazine, and video clips from her Alaa catwalk appearances show her a young Campbell dancing incendiously, ballet steps, and contemporary dance moves down the runway while using the techniques she learned at the Italia Conti performing arts school, where she was a student before she was scouted aged 17, while the video clips from her Alaa catwalk appearances show a young Campbell performing energetic tap dancing choreography,
The exhibition’s upstairs room features 15 minutes of moving images curated by former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and features a 360-degree projection of Campbell’s best fashion photography moments. They feature significant cover shots, such as the 2009 Harper’s Bazaar cover that featured Campbell sprinting alongside a running leopard, her model’s groundbreaking Vogue covers, as well as her 2022 cover taken as she carries her first child, who was born via surrogate at the age of 50.
Campbell has a well-known activism career, where she has campaigned for race equality from an early age, joined the Black Girls Coalition in 1989, and was the frontwoman of the 2007 “black issue” of Vogue Italia. There is also a section exploring her relationship with Nelson Mandela, who once called her his “honorary granddaughter,” displaying photographs of the pair embracing, taken from Campbell’s personal collection.