Rumours have been swirling about a possible spat between fashion icons Naomi Campbell and Anna Wintour after the two exchanged jabs at each other at Harlem’s Fashion Row event. 

 

Maria wrote about that here in yesterday’s CSM. At first, it was originally being reported that Naomi arrived fashionably late, something not entirely off brand for her. This apparently frustrated Anna, as she was to present Naomi with the Fashion Icon Award. But when Naomi was reportedly nowhere to be found when Anna took the stage, her frustration mounted, resulting in her taking a jab at Naomi during her speech.

 

“I am a very punctual person, and I have the honor of presenting tonight to someone who is often late,” she said to a packed house. 

She did eventually go on to sing Naomi’s praises, adding:

"Naomi is honestly one of the most fearless people I know, a quality that was evident at the very, very start of her career when she began to speak the truth about inequality and injustice. And this was at a time when it was not so common to do so.”

 

Anna ended up leaving the event shortly after her speech, leaving the award presentation to fellow honouree and Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Samira Nasr, which seemed to delight Naomi, who made this mention during her acceptance speech:

“It wasn't my choice to have the other lady. I'd much rather have this," she said gesturing toward Samira. 

As Maria mentioned, referring to Anna Wintour as “the other lady” is a wild way to characterize and address one of the most influential people in fashion, but upon learning more about how things actually went down, Naomi’s reaction may not have been entirely unwarranted.

 

Yesterday, TMZ updated the story, saying that Naomi was not actually late to the show and did arrive at the time she was instructed to by the producers of the event. But it was Anna who moved up the presentation time. Why? Because she wanted to attend the U.S. Open. And she did in fact make it there on time because there are photos of her at the match.

Naomi, totally unaware of the reason behind Anna’s departure, realized that she was no longer at the event and was disappointed, which could explain why she brought the sass on stage. But even besides that, in Naomi’s defence, Anna mentioned her habitual tardiness first, and unnecessarily since the timeline of the night had changed, allegedly at her request. Naomi still acknowledged her typical tardiness right off the bat, saying with a laugh:

"Yes, Naomi's always late, but I believe in my high power, and I want to thank my higher power for having me be here."

There are still so many questions. Was Naomi actually there when Anna was giving her speech? Or had she moved up the time slot significantly enough that Naomi hadn’t even arrived at the time Anna began speaking? Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, why was she allowed to just…reorganize the itinerary so she could attend the U.S. Open? 

Harlem’s Fashion Row is an agency that works specifically with underrepresented designers, most of whom are Black or Latino. The agency helps with brand strategy, collaborations, media, marketing and more. They make it very clear they’ve been around since before 2020, which seems to be the year every single company out there cared about DEI, temporarily or not. 

 

Despite being in the business for nearly 20 years, having Anna Wintour agree to come to their event could have been huge for them, huge for anyone. And that could be why they allowed the timeline alteration. There’s been greater accommodations made for people who don’t have nearly as much pull as Anna. But I do think it should have fallen on either the event producers or Anna herself to let the audience know that this wasn’t your typical case of Naomi being late and that there was more to it. And in not doing so, it really blew this story up and misrepresented things. 

At first, this story appeared to be a power struggle between two fashion heavyweights – hence their mutual praise for each other, even in the midst of throwing shade. And before I heard about what really happened, I was unabashedly in support of Anna. As a punctual person myself, I can’t stand when people are late, especially when its habitual. And it absolutely perplexed me that Naomi would be late to an event where she was being honoured. But hearing that Naomi was on time, that Anna rearranged the timeline and the reason she rearranged it for? It’s preposterous. 

 

The media headlines implied that this was an all-out war.TMZ’s headline read that the two women “blasted” each other on stage. The New York Post wrote that Anna was “ticked off” and that Naomi “clapped back”. So while the story continues to make waves, these two women are more than likely back to business as usual. It’s New York Fashion Week, and with decades in the industry under their belts, they know a thing or two about letting misleading headlines run their course in the news cycle. 

Here's Naomi at a Bulgari event last night.