The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2024 - Issue 36

biteexhibition Westwood platform heels she famously tripped in during a 1993 runway show. The display also nods to Campbell’s resil- ience and humour, featuring items like her Burberry Hazmat Suit worn during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each piece tells a chapter of her journey, from her early modelling days to her lasting impact in the industry. The exhibition spans two floors, with the lower level focus- ing on nostalgic pieces like vintage polaroids and magazine covers, capturing Campbell’s rise to supermodel status and her role in shaping the ‘supermodel era’ of the ‘90s. The upper level is a brighter and more open space with iconic garments and memorabilia, a 15-minute video montage of her career highlights projected on a large screen, narrating the story of a model who redefined beauty and a powerful advocate for diversity and representation in fashion. It chronicles her relationship with the designers she walked for, such as Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaīa, who became a father figure and called him ‘papa’. They strongly bonded over home-cooked meals or during museum visits and fashion mo- ments until he died in 2017. Alaīa helped launch Campbell’s career, placing her at the centre of his runway shows from late 1986. In his Autumn-Winter 1987 show, she modelled the first of several ballet-style outfits, including the Tutu Dress. She also walked the Corset Dress with Fringe in cotton twill, with topstitched channels and string fringe from Alaīa’s haute Spring-Summer 1988 collection. During a typically unconven- tional catwalk show peppered with drama and dance, Camp- bell imbued the fringe material with life and movement. While wearing another ensemble in white, the model performed an extended tap dance sequence to rapturous applause. The model has known American designer Marc Jacobs since she was 16. They bonded when he offered her chocolate during a fitting for his namesake label's first show. She later walked in his Spring-Summer 1993 Perry Ellis Grunge collec- tion presentation, after which he was fired as creative director. Controversial at the time, grunge is considered a watershed moment in fashion. Jacobs re-released the collection for Re- sort 2019, and Campbell wore a version of her original look for the campaign. When fashion photographer Steven Meisel introduced them, American designer Anna Sui and Campbell became friends. “I liked her clothes, and when she put on her first show in 1991, I wanted to lend my support by walking in it,” Campbell said. She helped recruit other top models to take part and wore the Purple Dress and Hat, a version of a black look from Sui’s Au- tumn-Winter 1992 collection, for the opening of her first bou- tique on Greene Street in New York’s Soho District. After her initial appearance at Ralph Lauren’s Spring-Summer 1988 show when she was 17, Campbell would walk a further 12 times for the brand and front three advertising campaigns. The model wore the Gold Beaded Dress and Jacket for Lau- ren’s Spring-Summer 1997 collection campaign. She also ap- peared in the 1996 Polo Sport campaign with Tyson Beckford. “To pair me with Tyson for that campaign - to have two Black models in a single ad - was astounding,” she said. The exhibition mentions the ‘supermodel’ era of the ‘90s, which comprised top models Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Tatjana Patitz and Linda Evangelista. “Peo- ple had started to use the word supermodel. Everything we wore and every restaurant we went to was written about. Then, the next thing, you’re reading what you eat for breakfast on the cover of a newspaper!” The five models also appeared in George Michael’s ‘Freedom’ music video, catapulting their sta- tus even more. All images courtesy of V&A