Naomi Campbell, a living work of art… from a museum. Photos and videos

She’s late. Obviously. She always has been. When she worked for me at Condé Nast, ten years ago, and interviewed people like Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, Piers Morgan (famous English directored.) and rapper Skepta for GQ, was never on time. But that’s Naomi. She would come into my office, lie down on the couch, order one of my assistants to get her a Big Mac and work her charms. Nothing has changed – Photo | video

LATE AND WITH A CHARACTER… – A few weeks ago she was 90 minutes late at the Dorchester Hotel, and I complained, but quickly gave up. She has this disarming habit of blinking at you. And it works. Of course it does. This is Naomi. I know from experience that she has two modes: either flirting or angry. But she didn’t seem too upset when we met. In fact, she told me she was past being angry: “There are very few people I regret getting angry at,” she said, as she sat down. “But I’ve learned that ignoring people is more effective than targeting them, because no one likes being ignored.”

Naomi Campbell and her surprise graduation at 52: “Never give up” – guard

TODAY THE ENEMY IS LINDA – Not even to Linda Evangelista who seems to be Naomi’s current enemy. When she explains to me that she is part of a generation of models who were the first, real, influencers, she mentions Kate Moss, Christy Turlington and Stephanie Seymour, but poor Linda is left out.
“Insincerity makes me angry, as does ingratitude,” he explained. “Especially when you know you’ve done everything you can to help someone and they can’t even say ‘thank you.’ It’s not so much anger as it is great disappointment.”
When I asked if she was talking about anyone in particular, she said, “That’s right.” She and Evangelista have unfollowed each other on Instagram, avoid each other at fashion shows, and now they can’t even be in the same room together. Naomi can’t stand her.

Naomi Campbell, the Black Venus returns to the catwalk – guard

NAOMI ON SHOW – We met to talk about the exhibition dedicated to her at the Victoria & Albert Museum. «I feel honored and lucky. It was very challenging to review images that I hadn’t seen for 25 years. She made me relive many emotions, many memories. Old stories emerged, I felt nostalgic. The exhibition tells the story of a woman who tries to make her life known. I’m proud, but I care more that my children know that this is their legacy too, as well as the legacy of my work. I also wanted to share with people the incredible art of all the designers and creatives I got to work with, some of whom are still with us and some of whom are gone. There will be no other Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Azzedine Alaïa or Alexander McQueen. They were gems, perfectionists. Now times have changed.”

Naomi Campbell, surprise mother again at 53: “A gift from God”. And social media goes wild – guard

BEFORE MANY TIMES – Naomi has always broken down barriers of prejudice. She was the first woman of color to appear on the cover of Vogue France, the first black model to be chosen for the cover of the September issue of Vogue USA. Was it exhausting at the time to have to fight all those battles or do you feel a huge sense of satisfaction and pride looking back? «When you try to break these barriers, you don’t really understand what’s happening. You don’t know what you’re doing, you’re just doing it. You don’t have time to think and notice something. I jumped at every opportunity. Don’t forget that when I was offered all these covers, they were never guaranteed. They were always test shots, they could be discarded. Throughout the ’90s I always did these “cover tries”, never guaranteed covers. That’s how it was then for a woman of color. Nothing was ever certain.

Naomi Campbell from Dolce and Gabbana is the star of Milanese fashion – guard

INFLUENCER BEFORE SOCIAL MEDIA – The fashion industry is much better now. And everything has changed thanks to social media. Today if you are a true model, a person who loves her profession, who is committed to supporting young designers, then you can emerge and shine. But some are chosen only because they have many followers on social media. And then I think: if our generation had had social media, what could we have done? If Cindy Crawford, Christie Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz and I had social media, where would we be now? A few weeks ago, when we showed the documentary The Super Models at the Emmys, someone told us that we were the real, first, influencers and I guess that’s true. We are the original influencers. We are still incredibly supportive of each other, today I spoke to Christie. I am eternally grateful to her because she introduced me to Gianni Versace and told Steven Meisel about me. And Cindy, my first roommate, we are still very close. We still call each other “wagon” (literally “chariot”ed.). It started with Kate Moss when I was living in Dublin. We were all “wagons” (the tops thought that the term, in Irish slang, meant “drunk”. It’s actually an insult, ed.). Also Ali Hewson, Bono’s wife. It was what we always called each other. It was a nickname, a term of endearment. In fact, we don’t call each other anything else!
She famously stood by John Galliano after his racist remarks (in 2011 he was fired from Dior for anti-Semitic comments and saying he “worshiped Hitler”ed.), but is she still his friend? And is it right for him to return to the fashion spotlight? “One hundred percent,” she responded decisively. “I’m also in recovery and I fully understand the disease that is alcohol. And I will continue to stand by my friend.”
Let’s face it: Naomi Campbell keeps friends close and enemies at the end of a phone, preferably one that’s hurled in their direction with great force (in 2006 the top model admitted to hitting her maid with a cell phoneed.). I once saw her backstage at the British Awards telling off an assistant for losing her phone. Let’s just say that was a real dressing down.

Naomi Campbell speaks (and she will surprise you): “I’ll tell you about my first 50 years” – guard

WILL HE STAY LIVING IN LONDON? – She intends to educate her children in London: «I love this city, I would like them to go to school here like I did. I haven’t decided where we will live permanently yet, but I hope it’s here. I like the British education system, while I don’t like the American version of it.”
Was she destined to become a star? «I don’t know if I’m a star, but I definitely wanted to have a career in the theater, I loved dance. Every time I’m in London I would like to take dance lessons but then I never find the time. My daughter also loves to dance. Motherhood is fun, you never know what can happen. It’s like I’m reliving my childhood. I hate leaving the children at home, when I travel I try not to be away for more than 48 hours, so as not to upset their routine. If I have to stay away longer, the children come with me.”
Do you have any regrets? «I’m in rehab, so having regrets is difficult for me. I would regret it if I was still around drinking and doing drugs, but I’m not. So I can’t live in regret. I have to live in gratitude.”
Is it difficult to overcome addictions? “I love being in this recovery phase. I have my core group and we have video calls four times a day. We started before Covid and it has been a great support. One of the positive things about the pandemic was learning to stop for a moment.” But not forever. She is back to modeling, investing in young people, arguing and is the protagonist of one of the largest exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum in recent years.
Just don’t go against her.

Dylan Jones
*Evening Standard/The Interview People