It’s wild to think we’ve known Naomi Campbell as one of the OG supermodels and then a humanitarian, business mogul and most certainly a temperamental diva, but now she’s 51 years and entering a new era: motherhood. She’s publicly sharing the first image in this new role on the cover of British Vogue. Dressed in black, Naomi’s traded in her trademark bone-straight black inches for natural texture hair that forms a halo around her and her nine-month-old daughter. The image feels overly photoshopped, since Naomi’s signature cheek bones are absent, but I feel like Naomi doesn’t mind the generous airbrush. Her daughter, whose name she’s choosing to keep private, is only shown in profile, keeping most of her face private as well.
Inside Vogue, Naomi reveals that most of the people in her life were just as surprised as we were when she revealed her baby was born last May in an Instagram post. And when asked if she would elaborate on the details around her daughter’s arrival, Naomi says, “She wasn’t adopted – she’s my child.” But she didn’t offer any other information on how her daughter arrived.
Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful continues to deliver really inspired covers for the British fashion bible. Last year, we got standouts from Adele and Malala and just last month they celebrated the rise of the African model by putting a gorgeous group of dark-skinned woman on the cover. This in stark contrast to American Vogue who, during Black History Month, revealed their Kim Kardashian cover with a spread full of images that appeared to draw on some iconic Black references – including Naomi Campbell. Even Naomi dropped a “like” when she saw this post.
British Vogue was the place where Naomi felt comfortable bringing people into the part of her life she keeps extremely guarded. She’s close friends with Edward Enninful and this cover comes almost 35 years after Naomi made her debut on the front of the magazine. She tells Vogue she’s happy to be booked and busy at 51 but describes it as “nerve-wracking” to be walking with girls who are 18.
But it isn’t stopping her from jet-setting around the world with her daughter in hand, now a child of the world at just nine months old.