Naomi Campbell pays tribute to her ‘Papa’ Azzedine Alaia
Naomi Campbell might be renowned for her fiercely independent attitude and untouchable glamour but there’s a tender back story from the beginnings of her career which offers a fresh view on the Streatham-born supermodel. When, aged 16, Campbell moved alone to work in Paris, Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaia took her under his wing. Their relationship became so close that she called him ‘papa’ — a sign of affection she still shows to this day.
In a 26-page feature in the new issue of biannual fashion and culture magazine AnOther, Campbell is photographed by Alasdair McLellan and styled by Katy England wearing Alaia’s legendarily elegant yet powerfully sensual designs. She stars alongside Iris and Rafferty Law and Kate and Lila Moss in the epic tribute to the designer.
“I will never be part of anyone or anything that’s disrespectful to my papa” Campbell tells AnOther magazine editor Susannah Frankel of her enduring loyalty to Alaia. In 2009, Campbell refused to attend the Met Gala because she felt his work did not receive the coverage it deserved in that year’s ‘The Model as Muse’ exhibition.
Campbell- now 46 — also recalls her exploits in Paris while living with Alaia. Her tales could be those from any loving, protective father and his daughter — with a few fabulously famous extra characters added in.
“I met him and that was it,” she says in the interview. “He called my mother and told her I had to live with him. He said I shouldn’t be in Paris aged 16 by myself. He said I needed protecting and he was going to take me in.”
“I used to sneak out at night to go to Les Bains Douche with Grace Jones and Iman,” Campbell remembers. “I’d have to put my stuff downstairs by the door but the dogs would always start barking when I left so he would wake up and know I wasn’t at home. Then Papa would arrive. He’d get a call and they’d tell him, “Your daughter is here.” So he’d come down andlookatmeandifI’dputtheoutfit on wrong he’d fix it and then say, ‘Now you’re going home!’ I’d say, ‘No! Please Papa, can I stay?’
Even the chance to see a music icon perform didn’t avert Alaia from his paternal insitincts. “I remember one time Prince was going to come andplaylive,”CampbelltellsAnOther, “but he was like, ‘No. Home.’”
On another occasion, Campbell recalls, she fell down the stairs. “We had no ice in the house. We’d run out. But we had a frozen leg of lamb. I remember he put that on my head. Papa, if it was his last egg, his last piece of bread, he’d give it to you. To me he is family in every sense of the word.”
Alaia was also on hand to offer reassurance and encouragement to Campbell in the early years of career when she was perhaps not equipped with the confidence she has today. “For years he told me, don’t wear too much make-up, you don’t need make up” she says. “Now finally I don’t wear so much but back then it was a security blanket.”
Alaia’s determination to instill confidence and independence in a young Campbell can be traced back to the designer’s own singular way of doing things. He is almost unique in the fashion industry for not conforming to the standard show dates, instead preferring to show a new collection as and when he’s readyand any shop that orders his designs will have to wait until he’s satisfied they’re ready for customers to buy before he delivers them. “I live with the climate. I am like fruit. When I’m ready, I’m ready, There are no rules, it’s a way of life” Alaia says to AnOther by way of explanation for setting his own timetable.