LONDON.- Naomi Campbell In 1998 it became the first model to appear on the cover of French Vogue. Years later, he opens another gap with an exhibition about his career in the museo London Victoria and Albert.
The exhibition Naomi in fashionwhich opens its doors on Saturday, covers the forty-year career of this mannequin, born in London in 1970.
At 54 years old, Naomi Campbell continues to walk, as she recently did for the Burberry brand.
The exhibition displays dozens of looks that have marked the history of fashion, since Naomi Campbell is one of the biggest stars of the era top model of the 90s.
As a child she saw herself as a dancer, like her mother. But at the age of 15, an agent discovered her after leaving school in London. Two years later, she had already appeared on several fashion magazine covers and had walked in New York, Milan and Paris.
The French couturier Yves Saint Laurent would have used all his influence to get Naomi Campbell to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine.
The designer: “helped women of color and changed the course of my career,” explains the British model, quoted on a poster accompanying a feather dress that Naomi Campbell wore for the fall-winter 1987 show, the first which he did for Yves Saint Laurent.
“Aura and chemistry”
The decision of the renowned Victoria and Albert museum of art and design to dedicate an exhibition to a model, which has once again made the British pioneer, has been questioned.
“But the best mannequins are not simply models,” says exhibition curator Sonnet Stanfill, believing them to be a source of inspiration.
“Naomi Campbell’s incomparable aura and chemistry are legendary in the fashion world,” he adds.
To make this exhibition, Sonnet Stanfill spoke for hours with the top model. “She has an incredible memory. She remembers who she was with when she was wearing a certain item of clothing,” says the commissioner.
The British model was able to find in her personal collection accessories, photographs, clothing and even Concorde plane tickets between London and New York.
Fashion houses have also lent pieces for the exhibition.
The exhibition has a section dedicated to the great couturier Azzedine Alaia, who died in 2017, with whom, from the age of 16, Naomi Campbell lived when she was in Paris and whom she called ‘dad’. The designer found inspiration in what he called the ‘perfect body’ of the British model.
Every of the catwalk
The museum also displays magazine covers with his image. The exhibition also broadcasts videos of its fashion shows for the most important houses.
Between the looks On display, the one designed by stylist Vivienne Westwood stands out, worn by Naomi Campbell in 1993, with platform shoes at least 15 centimeters high. The model fell on the catwalk, without losing her smile, in an image that went around the world.
Naomi Campbell was also known for her strong personality. In 2007, she was sentenced to five days of community service in New York for throwing her cell phone at one of her collaborators.
In 1988, Campbell joined a group campaigning for black models to receive the same pay as their counterparts of other ethnicities. Since then, diversity has conquered the catwalks.
The exhibition concludes with the model’s advice on walking like Naomi and a catwalk to practice on. “Shoulders back, move to the music, letting your arms swing naturally and keeping your gaze focused on the camera.”
FUENTE: AFP
