AS EXHIBITION CURATOR TAKES US BEHIND THE SCENES NAOMI CAMPBELL - WHY V&A'S GROUNDBREAKING SHOW IS A FITTING CELEBRATION OF A UNIQUE CAREER

Opening with striking video clips of Naomi Campbell commanding the catwalk with her famous fierce walk, a new exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum charts the illustrious career of the trailblazing supermodel.

- BECKY DONALDSON

Spanning four decades, Naomi: In Fashion explores the Londonborn model’s contribution to fashion and her work to advocate social change.

This major retrospective – the first to focus on an individual fashion model – highlights Naomi’s journey from being scouted at the age of 15 to her enduring influence in the industry and beyond.

“There have been so many exhibitions about fashion designers and photographers, but the model is often left out of the story,” Sonnet Stanfill, senior curator of fashion at the V&A, tells hello!.

“When deciding to focus on a single model, it was clear that Naomi stands apart in terms of her longevity and the fact that she’s worked with the best designers in fashion, is still active as a working model and has consistently used her platform to champion causes she believes in.”

Working closely with Naomi, 54, the curator spent almost two years selecting 100 looks – outfits, accessories, photos, personal artefacts and moving images – to tell her story.

Among the items on show are haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces from key moments in the model’s career.

Taken from her personal archive and supplemented by pieces from fashion houses she has worked with, they include an extraordinary 1989 Thierry Mugler car-inspired corset, the metallic bustier Naomi modelled last year at Sarah Burton’s final Alexander McQueen fashion show, and the pink Valentino outfit she wore to the 2019 Met Gala.

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