Naomi Campbell is not into ‘ticking the box’ of diversity in fashion

27 June 2024

Naomi Campbell is not into “ticking the box” of diversity in the fashion industry.

Naomi Campbell is not into ‘ticking the box’ of diversity in the fashion industry

The supermodel, 54, made her name as one of the leading black models on the planet in the 1980s and was the first black model to appear on the cover of publications including Vogue Paris and Time, and has been using her platform to promote inclusion in her business.

Hitting out at brands who want to “look good” without investing in long-term diversity, she said in an interview to promote her ongoing ‘Naomi in Fashion’ exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: “A lot of people can come up to me and say, ‘Oh we want this, we want that.’

“But that can go through one ear or the other if it’s just for a ‘tick the box’.

“I’m not into ticking the box. You have to show me that you really want to commit into the community and the infrastructure.

“You know, there’s been brands where they’ve been in trouble, they just want to look good.

“And I’ve gone out to help, and then once I’ve helped, or things have turned around, they’ve just forgotten.

“It doesn’t work that way – so I’m learning too.”

Speaking at the V and A Museum in March, Naomi said: “Will (diversity) remain? That is a question I don’t really want to think about but that is what I’m thinking about, because as I am again looking at the collections, I’m starting to get nervous that we are sliding back.

“Why do I stay doing what I do? Because my work is not done. I feel that I have to use my voice and platform to keep at them.”

Naomi’s exhibition marks the first time the V and A has focussed on the career of a living fashion model, and it tracks the model’s career and personal life through objects and garments from her personal archive.

It includes the Karl Lagerfeld dress she wore in 1988 as the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue France in the magazine’s 68-year history – along with the grey bedazzled Dolce and Gabbana dress she infamously wore on her final day of community service at the New York City Department of Sanitation in March 2007, which she completed as punishment for throwing a phone at her housekeeper’s head.