Naomi Campbell Covers HARPER’S BAZAAR’s September 2024 ‘Icons’ Issue

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Naomi Campbell is like no other. She broke barriers and rewrote the rules. Fell down, got back up, and all in nine-inch heels. For the Harper’s BAZAAR September 2024 Icons issue, Campbell was photographed by Malick Bodian on a rooftop in Paris and styled by our style director at large, Carlos Nazario. Campbell spoke with Harper’s BAZAAR executive digital director Lynette Nylander, sharing her advice for the new vanguard of models, opening up about motherhood and traveling with her children and the tremendous pressure of being known as one of the first Black supermodels.

“If you were to stop people on the street and ask them to name a supermodel, chances are they’d say Naomi Campbell,” says Samira Nasr, Harper’s BAZAAR Editor-in-Chief. “Over the course of a boundary-breaking career, she has cemented her place in the collective consciousness as the ne plus ultra of supermodels. It’s no wonder she is currently the subject of an exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. But don’t mistake it for a retrospective, a sign of someone looking back on a career that was; Naomi is Naomi because she is still walking and working as much as she ever has.”

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On her modeling journey: “Barriers have to be broken. Challenges have to be met,” Campbell tells me of her modeling journey. “I just wanted to do the best work that I could do. [I figured] if I made a decision to be in this business, I would embrace it. I wanted to give it my best because my family definitely did not want me to do this.”

Her advice for the new vanguard of models: “I want them to have control of their image,” Campbell explains of the new vanguard she’s helping reach its potential.

“I want them to know that they are a part of something as well. Not just being hired for a job. That they have a story and a journey to share. Everything goes so quickly in our business. I love that in my time, we had real relationships with the designers. It wasn’t just when we were doing shows; we visited each other, we cared, because sometimes it’s kind of lonely. There were many lonely times, but we held each other up. I want to do the same,” she says.

On the tremendous pressure of being known as one of the first Black supermodels: “People think that you want to be the only one, but it’s not necessarily so,” Campbell explains. “I didn’t like being the first in a lot of things. … That’s why I wanted to celebrate us in the exhibition—Naomi Sims, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Bethann Hardison, Veronica Webb, Karen Alexander—because they were also before me.”

On motherhood and traveling with her children: “It’s the biggest joy,” she says. “The biggest blessing is to have these two innocent, beautiful souls and for me to be able to be their mother. I learn a lot each day. They’re good kids

“I definitely don’t take them from New York to London for a two-day shoot. That’s too much, but my kids love to travel. They must have known!” she says, laughing.

On her ongoing mission to encourage greater model diversity in the industry: “My purpose is bigger,” Campbell says. “My purpose is the African continent. My purpose is the emerging creatives. My purpose is to open this up for everybody. There’s so much talent out there that just doesn’t get given that opportunity.”

On welcoming a new generation of admirers reintroduced to her by way of the ‘90s and ‘00s nostalgia trend, including TikTok celebrities like Sabrina Bahsoon, a.k.a Tube Girl, and Khaby Lame, both of whom she has worked with and she says inspire her: “They’re always asking me what the ’90s were like. I’m just shocked they even know who I am!”

Story by: Lynette Nylander
Photographs by: Malick Bodian
Styling by: Carlos Nazario

[Photo Credit: Malick Bodian for Harper’s Bazaar Magazine]

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