When Naomi Campbell stepped into a gilded hall at the Ministry of Culture in Paris last September, she had more reason than usual to feel triumphant. Nearly four decades had passed since she first walked, at the age of 15, down a Parisian runway. Now, at 54, she was about to receive the insignia of a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, one of France’s highest honours, recognising significant contributions to the arts and literature.
Campbell stood behind a podium, dressed in a black-and-white-striped Chanel gown, to address the audience. The world’s most famous supermodel looked the way most of us have come to know her, impossibly beautiful, enduring, undeniable.