Campbell’s bullet-hole dress is ‘an insult’ to all gun victims
Just a month after she went to pistol tycoon’s party, grieving families say...
NAOMI CAMPBELL has been accused of insulting victims of gun crime by wearing a dress with a fake bullet hole during London Fashion Week.
One mother who lost her son to gun violence said she was disgusted with the way the supermodel ‘glamorised’ weapons with her controversial choice of dress.
Ms Campbell’s appearance in the apparently bloodstained frock came a month after she attended the 90th birthday party of billionaire handgun manufacturer Gaston Glock, where she posed for selfies with his 39-year-old wife, Kathrin.
The model was widely branded a hypocrite for attending the starstudded bash weeks after decrying the epidemic of mass shootings in the US – and her latest headlinegrabbing outfit has only intensified the criticism.
Jack Crozier, whose sister was one of 16 children murdered in the 1996 Dunblane massacre, when she was just five, said: ‘This comes across as little more than tasteless self-promotion from Campbell, considering the hypocrisy of her stance on gun control.
‘Victims of gun violence don’t get to remove their scars in the way that she can remove her dress.’
Lucy Cope, who founded Mothers Against Guns UK after her son was shot dead in London in 2002, said: ‘This is an insult to every single
‘She’s living in La-La Land if you ask me’
person whose child has been shot in the UK. I hate it when celebrities think it’s cool to glamorise gun crime – it’s disgusting.’
And Gill Marshall-Andrews, head of the Gun Control Network, added: ‘It’s obvious that Naomi’s getting a bit old now and she wants the publicity. Of course it’s deplorable and an insult to all those who have been affected by gun violence, but in a way I feel sorry for her.’
The 49-year-old model insisted the bullet-hole dress, which she wore at a glitzy event for her Fashion For Relief charity, was making a political statement.
She said: ‘This dress is not about glamorising gun crime in any way. It’s an artistic statement. I wanted to support young British designer Mowalola Ogunlesi, who’s doing such great work and is passionate about bringing such a serious issue to light through her designs.’
But Dr Anthony Gunter, a lecturer in criminology at the University of East London, poured scorn on that explanation.
‘In the rarefied world Naomi lives in, maybe this is making some political statement,’ said the academic, who wrote the book Guns And Gangs. ‘But in the world of the street, that’s a woman in a white dress who has been shot dead at a wedding. She’s just living in La-La Land if you ask me.’
Nigerian-born Ms Ogunlesi, one of the darlings of the London fashion scene, defended her design, which featured a fake bullet-hole on the abdomen, with the appearance of blood oozing out and staining the cream-coloured fabric.
She said: ‘I make clothes to challenge people’s minds. This dress is extremely emotional to me – it screams my lived experience as a black person. It shows no matter how well dressed you are or well behaved, we are time after time seen as a walking target.’
Ms Campbell’s appearance at last weekend’s party, attended by James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, actress Naomie Harris, and model Stella Maxwell, came as London’s death toll from knife and gun crime this year stood at 109, with experts predicting the rate will surpass last year’s grim record of 132.
And in America, more than 10,700 people have been killed by guns so far in 2019.
In June, Ms Campell tweeted: ‘The statistics on gun crime in America are astounding.
‘Our communities and our children deserve to live in safe environments where they are unthreatened by preventable violence.’
However, that did not stop her celebrating with Mr Glock – whose company is responsible for about 65 per cent of US gun sales.
Hugh Grant, Joan Collins and John Travolta also attended the party, as The Mail on Sunday revealed last month.