To talk about Naomi Campbell is to take a peek into the glory days of fashion in the 1990s. You’d expect the runway veteran, who began her career playing muse to the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Azzedine Alaïa, to enter any room with a grand announcement of sorts. Instead, we had a tall Amazonian silhouette gliding through the set, all business. It’s a day after the Schiaparelli spring/summer 2023 show at Haute Couture Week in Paris, where Campbell, garbed in a wolf head coat dress, had made headlines. After all, she’s one of the original supermodels—the big six.
The fashion scene then was a vacuum, equal parts wildly exciting as it was exclusionary. In an industry notorious for gatekeeping access to the inner sanctum and holding its seasoned runway recruits to impossible standards of beauty, Campbell was the one who abolished that status quo. In 1988, at the age of 18, she became the first Black model to bag a French Vogue cover.
Back then, diversity and representation were not familiar terms in the fashion space, and yet somehow, this force of fashion managed to elbow her way in. Now some 66-plus Vogue covers down, she is adding another one to the roster, all while still ruling the catwalk for decades, which equals light years in the modelling business.
Legendary instances, such as Gianni Versace’s autumn/winter 1991-1992 show, are just one of the many reasons why Campbell claims the throne. “This is one of those moments when fashion changed forever,” critic Tim Blanks said in an interview in 2013 when revisiting the iconic show. Now years later, the Super who crowned India’s Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Miss World in 1994, has different ambitions compared to her counterparts.
Campbell has become selective that way, trading the spotlight often in pursuit of her own agendas. In the past, one of these has included learning yoga in India. “The second time that I ever travelled alone in my life, I went to Trivandrum,” reveals Campbell, enunciating Thiruvananthapuram’s former name with surprising ease. “I went there by myself in 2012 to learn about yoga. I saw yoga being done in all these different ways, for different purposes. But I specifically wanted to know how to find this triangle of peace,” she says, suddenly sitting up in her makeup chair. “I wanted to go to the source and teach myself. I stayed there for a month and put my phone in the safe. There were only two people who knew how to contact me. I immersed myself in the experience and I loved it.”
If there’s one thing to note about the model, philanthropist and mother, it’s her appreciation for cultures across the board. And so, when shooting for Vogue India, Campbell set the standard as well. Creatives inside the studio from across continents reconvened with old friends and made new ones over the merits of the classic combination of dal and rice. Something that Campbell’s exploration of South Asia has introduced to her, we find out, as we discuss the area’s diverse food map. Does she enjoy the various cuisines of the region? “Oh my God, do I!” she exclaims. “Everyone knows I love spice.”
The set is a cultural smorgasbord—‘Kill Bill’ by SZA, diverse cuisines as well as clothes and jewellery. And Campbell draws from all these cultural touchstones both on the runway and in front of the lens. The seasoned expert’s game face switches characters with each look. You see a different version of her in Alaïa, in McQueen, in Sabyasachi.
Swift flashes accompany the larger-than-life beauty as she poses under the camera lights, and within minutes we have ‘the picture’. To watch the supermodel at work, with her gazelle-like limbs and a face that defines the term ‘fierce’, is to have a closeup view of her performative process unfolding in front of the camera. She enters a sacred zone where only her compatriots, photographer Campbell Addy and stylist Kate Phelan gain entrance, the three creatives working in tandem. The long-time queen of the catwalk perfectly fits the role of “a self-made cyclone of energy, style and drama,” as described by the late writer and fashion editor André Leon Tally. Despite delays in shooting on the ground, there is a sense of confidence within the team in Campbell’s abilities. “It’s Naomi. She’s very quick in front of the camera because she knows exactly what the camera needs,” casually states a team member passing by on set.
“I’ve always wanted to shoot with Vogue India. And I remember meeting someone from India at a luxury conference in South Africa and telling him that. I love the country so much. I feel such peace here,” says Campbell, with a laugh. Since the model’s first time travelling to India in 1994, she has visited the country multiple times and has always worn Indian names such as Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi while here.
In 2009, Campbell flew down for a charity fashion show to support India after the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. “Back then, when I came to India, I had walked to raise funds for ambulances—this was right after the attacks in Mumbai—so it was a meaningful purpose for me to contribute to that,” she recalls. Campbell’s signature strut took the ramp at Lakmé Fashion Week for the first time in a sheer black sari from Sabyasachi.
“I was approached by IMG to dress Naomi in one of my outfits, and for an icon like her, there’s nothing more iconic than the sari. The strength, beauty and power of her presence fit perfectly with a glamorous black sari,” remembers Sabyasachi Mukherjee. For Campbell, walking in a sari was not a challenge. Instead, it strengthened her relationship with the garment and its origins. “I love wearing a sari. I’ve worn them hundreds of times whenever I’ve come to India and I will always wear one whenever I come to the country,” she says.
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Sabyasachi remembers learning about the supermodel while he was still studying fashion. “When I was in design school, the most powerful supermodels to date had just exploded into fashion— Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss. These are the people and moments who have made fashion history, and they remain the original Supers. Naomi’s presence—be it on the ramp, in music videos and campaigns, or even in Madonna’s controversial book Sex (1992)—remains timeless and memorable. She is a global icon, so it’s always special to work with someone like her.” For Campbell, this cover shoot is a full-circle moment as she reconnects with India, dressed in the same name that she wore on the runway all those years ago.
Something about Campbell walking out layered in Sabyasachi’s regal jewellery, handcrafted with organic gemstones the size of thumbs, and set in gold felt like the perfect fit—a fiercely bold personality, the queen of the global runway, and statement jewels which were equally befitting such fashion royalty. With pieces layered like a bridal set, complete with bangles and a maatha patti, Campbell moves in a way that shows she understands Indian jewellery and what it represents. “I have quite a bit of Indian jewellery that I have collected over the years. I normally don’t wear any jewellery, but I’ve bought so much in the past,” she says. Campbell’s knowledge of the Indian landscape goes beyond the surface. Talking fashion weeks seemed to incite a less enthusiastic response than discussing Indian jewellery. “It’s not just the front of the jewellery that I like, but the intricate detailing that India does behind the necklace. These are beautiful details, and we just don’t see any of this workmanship anywhere else.”
Campbell’s trips across the subcontinent have included shopping sprees to collect trinkets and heirlooms that ride the wave of nostalgia. “I love things that are authentic and hold meaning. I love wearing emeralds, my birthstone, and I love collecting jewellery that is meant for protection and for well-being especially when I’m in India,” she says. “I have bought some while I was in Jodhpur, and then some in Jaipur and Mumbai.”
In the middle of planning her next trip to India, Campbell hopes to finally combine her passion projects together. Having become a mother figure to a younger generation of models hailing from minority communities, such as Adut Akech and Ugbad Abdi, she plans on exploring the talent pool in India. “I just launched my new initiative, EMERGE, in Qatar and we’re looking to bring it to India. It highlights young creatives and gives them a platform so that the world gets to see them,” she explains. “The concept is to invest in them and bring them to London and Milan, mixing them in where they should be. It’s about highlighting their work which doesn’t get highlighted.” Where legacies are concerned, the new mother of one is determined to erect a different one beyond the runway: one that fosters talent without boundaries between cultures or countries.
Credits
Photographer: Campbell Addy
Styled by: Kate Phelan
Head of Editorial Content: Megha Kapoor
Words by: Shriya Zamindar
Global Creative Director: Juan Costa Paz
Global Director of Talent & Casting: Rosie Vogel-Eades
Global Design Director for Vogue: Aurelie Pellissier Roman
Art Director: Aishwaryashree
Visual Director: Elizabeth Yowe
Bookings Editor: Savio Gerhart
Make-up Artist: Alain Angloma
Hair Stylist: Rio Sreedharan
Manicurist: Robbie Tomkins
Set Design: Lydia Chan
Movement Director: Yagamoto
Photo Assistant: Meshach Roberts, Jordan Lee, James Gilbert.
Styling Asst: Honey Sweet & Ella Beacon
Production: CEBE
Also read:
Naomi Campbell is every inch a beauty icon
The rise of the supermodel: Naomi Campbell’s best 1990s moments
Naomi Campbell: “Models of colour are not a trend, we are here to stay”
