The model recently spoke at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity regarding the lack of representation in major fashion and beauty campaigns.
The iconic supermodel and British Vogue’s contributing editor, Naomi Campbell, who was honored at the CFDA Awards earlier this month with the Fashion Icon award, shared her views earlier this week at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Naomi Campbell, who is working on a platform for emerging African designers, praised the progress fashion has made in being inclusive, but called out luxury and beauty brands for not keeping up the pace. She also said that the continent should have a Vogue of its own.
“Aside from Tiger Woods and maybe one other, you never see a person of colour in a watch campaign or in the duty free,” said Campbell, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Right now fashion shows and ads look much better than it used to, but let’s see beauty campaigns,” added Campbell, who wants to see long-term deals for models of colour as the “face” of a brand.
She noted that models of colour are still not paid equally and in fact she used to be paid less than Linda Evangelista or Christy Turlington.
Regarding her Playboy appearance, Campbell shared anecdotes about her own struggle to receive equal pay. “When I did Playboy they said, ‘She can’t get the same money as Cindy Crawford,’” Campbell recalled. “My lawyer said, ‘Why?’ And they said, ‘because Naomi’s t**s are smaller.’ I was like, ‘So what? I’m built differently.’”
However, the issue was eventually resolved as Campbell’s agents said they would get lawyers and go to the press.
She further went on to say that we have to make sure that diversity is not a trend. “Are brands going to stay with this? I’ll give it another six months to decide.”
The supermodel also advocated for a Vogue Africa, to draw attention to emerging fashion design talent on the continent, and said: “We shouldn’t exclude other countries, they’ve got talent but we are not letting them in.”
Moreover, she lamented that the pace of fashion is too fast. “I don’t know how designers do it,” she said, with ready-to-wear and couture adding cruise collections and other capsules like pre-fall or accessories lines. “The pressure is on designers big time.”
This is not all! The star plans to launch a platform to help up-and-coming talent to showcase their work, especially those who don’t have access to high profile fashion events. “I want to do a platform because not everyone can go to these big fashion weeks around the world and put money into showing their product,” stated the British Vogue contributing editor. “So there has to be another way … building a platform for the young emerging designers that don’t have a way to show their work, and invite online stores to come in and see, and help them grow.”
Campbell, who organizes Fashion for Relief shows to benefit Save the Children and other charities, added: “What matters in my legacy that I leave is that I’ve done enough for models of color and diversity. That’s what kept me here for so long is that I don’t feel – I haven’t felt – that it’s right … For years [diversity] has been this afterthought and it should just be a thought along with everything else.”
– With information from The Hollywood Reporter
