Supermodel Naomi Campbell isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers in the powerful fashion industry.
While rap star Kanye West is launching a campaign to get his fiancee Kim Kardashian on the cover of Vogue, Campbell is fighting industry veterans to include more non-white models on the runway and in ad campaigns.
Most recently, Campbell and her cohorts Iman and fashion activist Bethann Hardison published an open letter with a list of fashion houses that were guilty of discrimination.
The letter highlighted that at New York Fashion Week just 6 percent of models were black and 9 percent were Asian and that fewer Black models are used now than in the 1970s.
The list included Campbell’s friend, Victoria Beckham and her eponymous line. Others like Calvin Klein, Chanel, Armani, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli and Marc by Marc Jacobs were also named.
“I called Victoria and I spoke to her,” Campbell told the Daily Mirror about Beckham, who only used one non-white model among the 30 walking the runway.
“I don’t want to pinpoint anyone. It isn’t a blame game. Everyone’s name was on that letter because they’d done it. It could have been completely unintentional. She is one of the designers on there like anyone else.”
Campbell stood strong when asked about upsetting her peers,
“Absolutely not! There is no way to candycoat this sort of thing,” she said.
“You have to be straight. We had the percentages and we were armed with the facts and you can’t be nervous about upsetting people.
“I speak the truth. People might not like it but I am doing it.”
Bravo.
