Naomi Campbell storms the Versace runway at 52 - a look back at the longevity of the supermodel

Age is certainly just a number where Naomi Campbell is concerned. The 52-year-old  supermodel wowed on the catwalk at the Versace Fall/Winter 2023 Fashion Show and certainly showed the world that as one of the original supermodels back in the1990s, the next generation of models still have a lot to learn from her. 

When I was growing up, it was the supermodels rather than Hollywood actresses who dominated the covers of fashion magazines such as Vogue. Naomi Campbell, along with Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Kate Moss were all icons at the time.

As Vogue magazine says “We fell head over heels for the women, whose transient lifestyles took them from Paris to Milan, London to New York, in a fabulous whirlwind of Versace chainmail slips, second-skin Alaia dresses and Chanel miniskirts.”

Today, it would seem that models most definitely don’t have the same level of power that they did years ago. When I was training to be a secondary English teacher for a couple of years, I was dismayed when one Year 7 girl said it was her ambition to be on Love Island. I feel that this generation of young women should be looking up to the likes of Naomi Campbell rather than Love Island stars.

However, Naomi Campbell will hopefully reignite the world’s interest in the power of the supermodel as she is most certainly someone who has had a highly successful career. Naomi’s influence cannot be underestimated as George Michael first muted his iconic Freedom! Music video (starring Naomi alongside Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and the late Tatjana Patitz) to her rather than the other models as he understood the level of her importance. 

Naomi Campbell recently spoke about her involvement in the Freedom! Video in the recent George Michael Freedom Uncut documentary. Naomi said that “George pitched it to me in L.A. and his exact words were “You’re the leader of the gang and unless you say yes, the rest of the girls won’t.”

As ‘the leader’ of the supermodel gang, Naomi has had what can only be described as a ‘stellar’ career. She has been the face of many fashion campaigns, including Givenchy, La Perla and H & M. 

It is however incredible that Naomi only landed her first beauty campaign as the face of NARS IN 2019. At the time, Francois Nars said: “Naomi is a living icon and brings such strong personality in the camera.”

One of the reasons why Naomi Campbell remains such an icon today might be in part due to her upbringing and her mother Valerie Morris-Campbell. In 2019, Valerie spoke to You magazine and revealed that she told Naomi the following from a young age, “I told her, if you want to survive in this world, there has to be something about you that makes people stop and say, “Wow, who is that?”

Although Naomi Campbell was on the Versace catwalk with the new breed of models such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, she still seems very much the ‘leader’ of the gang.

When Hugo Boss revealed their AW22 campaign, they decided on Naomi Campbell alongside the likes of Kendall Jenner, American rapper Future, TikTok creator Khaby Lame, and British boxer Anthony Joshua. This demonstrated that Naomi’s iconic status allows her to continue to be relevant as new talent continues to emerge. 

In many ways, Naomi should be lauded for managing to grab more headlines than Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski. She was also joined on the catwalk by 42-year-old supermodel Mariacarla Boscono and of course the Versace show itself was put together by 67-year-old Donatella Versace. 

Aside from modelling, Naomi Campbell has also been busy teaching aspiring models a few things she has mastered along the way. In December 2022, she was interviewed by People about her new Masterclass and revealed to them that “It’s not like they think it is. We work hard as fashion models and what we do. Our bodies take it quite hard too. But it’s like an art form.”

When fellow supermodel Tatjana Patitz passed away in January of this year, Naomi took to her Instagram to share her memories of her. “When I met you at 16 at the Alaia show, I remember just saying ‘wow!’ Your presence and stature. Your eyes and nervous shy smile, goddess energy that we were all drawn to…”

When Naomi isn’t modelling or teaching modelling, she is also a mother to a little girl. Naomi became a mum at the age of 50 and surprised fans when she announced her arrival on Instagram in May 2021.