Campbell’s public service dress to feature in V&A
Model’s upcoming exhibit will present bold range of 90s glamour to scandal
THE supermodel Naomi Campbell is as renowned for her personal controversies as she is celebrated for her forty-year career in fashion – and an upcoming exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum will not shy away from that fact.
The silver Dolce & Gabbana gown that Campbell wore on her final day of community service in 2007 will be on display in
NAOMI: In Fashion, opening June 22, alongside catwalk outfits and seminal
Vogue covers. Campbell had pleaded guilty to throwing a mobile phone at her former housekeeper and wore the now museum-worthy gown “in response to the paparazzi capturing her arrival and departure every day throughout,” the V&A explained in a statement. Campbell was emotional on Tuesday as she announced details of the showcase, and described feeling “honoured” that the V&A had chosen to mount an exhibition that was all about her. “Sorry I didn’t mean to cry,” she said, as the former Alexander Mcqueen designer Sarah Burton passed her a tissue. “You don’t want to forget anyone. It’s 40 years and [I can’t forget] all the incredible creatives that I’ve worked with, a lot of them are no longer here. I want to remember the stories.” This is the first time that the museum has ever dedicated a show to a single model. Campbell added that she was “overwhelmed and stressed out. Trying to take care of my two babies and do this at the same time is a lot.”
Campbell has a daughter and a son, whose names she keeps private, but who are both under the age of three.
“I really need to get this right,” she acknowledged. “Everyone expects such a great show from me so there’s this extra pressure. [I want to show a] more intimate side of me that a lot of people don’t know.”
Campbell was running 90 minutes late for her own presentation, leaving Edward Enninful and Steve Mcqueen to mill over coffee.
The V&A’S director Tristram Hunt filled in, with a short speech on the supermodel’s “frankly unequalled” career. “I am personally very grateful for her input,” he said. When Campbell did appear, though, it was worth the wait – within a 20-minute speech there were tears, photos and tales of a whirlwind fashion career.
Campbell has been, by all accounts, heavily involved in the curation alongside the V&A’S Sonnet Stanfill. Visitors will be guided through her personal journey, beginning with her appearance in Bob Marley’s Is This Love? music video at the age of seven, before being discovered by a model scout at the age of 15 in 1985.
What does Campbell want audiences to take away from the exhibition? “That someone learns something about me that they didn’t know before. Never judge a book by its cover. [To appreciate] my love of what I’ve done for 40 years. I do it with 110 per cent conviction.”
Naomi: In Fashion ‘I want to show an intimate side of myself people haven’t seen before’