Original and best: Vogue celebrates trailblazing supermodel Campbell
For the magazine’s next edition, the legendary supermodel was interviewed by her close friend, and outgoing editor of British Vogue, Edward Enninful.
When you’re the greatest of all time, you have the freedom to reminisce – and for Naomi Campbell there is a long legacy to revisit.
The British supermodel, who appears on the cover of the March issue of Vogue Australia, available on Monday, for the first time since 1997, has been at the top of her game for more than 30 years.
But in an interview for this month’s edition she shares that she has “only ever had one modelling agent in Australia in my whole career and that’s Priscilla Leighton Clark”.
“She’s still my agent and is a very special lady. She’s very motherly and nurturing. The job is important, but she also cares about the model. She’s remained in my life for all these 30-something years.”
Because that is how long Campbell, now 53 but discovered as a teenager window-shopping in London’s Covent Garden, has been at the top of the modelling game. One of the original supermodels – Campbell starred in the AppleTV+ documentary alongside her peers Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista – she worked closely with designers Azzedine Alaia, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood, and photographers including Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, who lensed the iconic 1990 Vogue cover that ushered in the era of the supermodel.
“The shoot was on the Sunday morning of New York Fashion Week,” Campbell reminisced in her interview.
“It was done in a couple of hours. They told us to bring our own jeans. The tops were Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo. We would all do his show for free. It wasn’t about the money. That changed later on in the ’90s. But I feel the same way to this day. If I love someone, I’ll do it.”
The Vogue Australia interview was conducted by her close friend, outgoing British Vogue editor Edward Enninful.
Campbell also stars alongside 39 other celebrities, including Oprah, Jane Fonda and Dua Lipa, on British Vogue’s March cover, celebrating Enninful’s tenure. In her interview, Campbell reflected on both the highs of her career and the lows. She described 1997 as a “tough year”, following the death of friends including Gianni Versace and Princess Diana.
“The last time I saw her was at Gianni’s funeral,” Campbell said. “She was comforting me. There’s no real way to learn how to deal with grief. And they all died in such shocking ways. It was a shock to learn how they died.”
In 1999, after collapsing on a photo shoot, Campbell went to rehab. “Rehab is not just about substance abuse. Rehab is about taking care of yourself. It’s a very healthy thing to do. There are so many ways of doing rehab, and I’ve done so many different types. I go to a remote place and take someone with me. It’s good to reset your mind and work on yourself. If someone has the guts to step out and take care of themselves, you should encourage them.”
Campbell, whose family originally hails from Jamaica, is a fashion industry trailblazer. Her career is littered with firsts: the first black model on the cover of Time and French Vogue, and the first black British model on the cover of British Vogue. In June, her legacy will be celebrated in a landmark exhibition at London’s V&A Museum.
Vogue Australia’s March 2024 issue is on sale on Monday