Naomi Campbell: CFDA Fashion Icon
It’s a befitting honor that has come too late for someone who has been a fashion icon for the past two decades. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is honoring Naomi Campbell with the Fashion Icon Award on June 4, officially recognizing the superlative impact she had on the fashion. Once she gets the award, she will join the ranks of past icons like Rihanna, Beyoncé, David Bowie, Pharrell Williams, and Kate Moss.
While acknowledging the honor as mentioned in the CFDA release, Naomi said, “It is truly an honor to be recognized by the CFDA with this year’s Fashion Icon Award.”
“Being from London, my personal style has always been tremendously influenced by both the dynamic, ever-changing nature of street culture and the music scene. I grew up in this industry, and I’m forever grateful to the iconic American fashion designers who have supported me and celebrated me throughout my career.”
Why the award matters?
One look at Naomi’s career will make you say, “if this isn’t a career, what is?”
The British model was the first black model to grace the covers of French Vogue and Time. She was also a lifelong muse of the late couturier Azzedine Alaïa. From featuring on Vogue and other major publications’ covers and walking the ramp for some of the most legendary designers to music video appearances and TV career, Naomi has done it all.
Naomi was discovered by Elite’s Beth Boldt when she was 15 years old at the Italia Conti stage school in London. At 18, she walked the ramp for YSL catwalk for autumn/winter 1987–88. In 1987, she became the first black model to grace the covers of the British Vogue as well as appeared on the cover for a record eight times. More ‘firsts’ followed with the Vogue Paris cover in 1998.
1991, Naomi walked the Gianni Versace’s catwalk with Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, and Christy Turlington, in what is come to be known as one of the most iconic fashion moments of all time.
In 1993, came the most dramatic moment for her when she tripped and fell on Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania catwalk. But in the true Campbell style, she laughed at her mistake the next day and carried on.
In 1996, Naomi and Claudia Schiffer were styled by none other than Gianni Versace himself in vibrant neon colors for his autumn/winter 1996–97 show. The same year, she walked the ramp for the first time for Victoria’s Secret.
In 2007, she was sentenced to five days of community service and a two-day anger management course for throwing her mobile phone at her assistant’s head in 2006. Naomi made the most of her community service assignment in New York, wearing covetable designer outfits and Louboutin boots.
Style file of Naomi Campbell
As Naomi gets an official stamp for being the fashion icon, we take a look at her style file over the years.
Featured on the Vogue 1996 cover in a Chanel turquoise velour bikini, Naomi looked hot.
She exuded every bit of panache on Vogue’s cover yet again in 1998, dressed in a Prada white satin beaded dress.
She looked ethereal in a golden Azzedine Alaïa gown to the CFDA Awards in 2000.
In June 2001, Naomi looked chic in a harlequin-print dress as she attended a Vogue-hosted fundraising gala at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.
Naomi looked a vision in white in 2002 as she arrived at the Venice Film Festival.
She looked the part very much in a 30s-inspired gown at Kate Moss,’ ‘The Beautiful and the Damned’-themed 30th birthday party, in Claridges, London.
In an intricately-beaded gown, she wowed people at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in LA in 2004.
Naomi looked very much in love in a glittering mini-dress with the then-boyfriend Usher at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Rome in 2004.
In 2007, she looked uber cool in a short hairstyle, wearing a sequin gown and fur stole for a Grammys Party at the Beverly Hills Hilton. The same year, she posed with Armani wearing the designer’s outfit at the Armani Privé pre-Oscars fashion show.
The same year, she shimmered in a floor-length gown for Elton John’s annual Aids Foundation party in LA.
Shimmer suits her as she dazzled in a short Dolce & Gabbana dress at a party hosted by the designers themselves during the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
At Alexander McQueen’s memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral during London Fashion Week, Naomi paid tribute to the designer wearing a black feathered dress.
To mark her 20 years as a model, she wore a white Dolce & Gabbana dress for the final event in Shanghai.
At the amfAR Gala during the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, she wore a Givenchy gown with Chopard jewelry, looking plain fantastic.
Roberto Cavalli especially designed a fringe dress for her in the gold color that she wore at the Life Ball in Vienna.
Naomi looked gorgeous in a midnight blue full-length gown at the Elton John Oscars after party in 2013.
It was Alexander McQueen for her at the Vogue Festival in 2014.
At BAFTA Awards 2014, she wore a silver pleated Roberto Cavalli gown with cutouts while it was a Burberry gown to the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
At the screening of American Horror Story in Los Angeles, it was a custom Versace gown for her. She showed the love for the designer again with a silver satin gown at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2016.
At the Cannes Film Festival 2017, Naomi wore Atelier Versace with a feathered hemline and Swarovski beading. She chose Versace again to pose with Cindy Crawford at the Vogue Italia “The New Beginning”; Party at Milan Fashion Week.
Naomi Campbell wore Jean Paul Gaultier to the Golden Globes 2018 and a vintage Pierre Cardin dress to the creation of the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange initiative at Buckingham Palace.
We’ll be rooting for her at the CFDA Awards this year. Will you?
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