Naomi Campbell turns 50 on Friday.
Part of the tour de force of models that enlivened the fashion industry in the ’90s, Campbell continues to be a pop culture figurehead. Last year, Campbell became the unofficial ambassador for clean travel, famously sanitizing her plane seat with disinfectant and wearing a protective suit well before such heightened awareness became a global norm.
And during the pandemic she’s kept a pulse on what’s happening in fashion and entertainment by launching a YouTube talk show, “No Filter with Naomi,” speaking with Anna Wintour, Cindy Crawford and others.
Though Campbell’s celebratory plans to mark this major milestone will likely be subdued, her denim pedigree over the years has been anything but low key.
Campbell dabbled in design when she collaborated with Italian fashion brand Fiorucci on a jeans collection in 2012. And as the face of Givenchy’s 2017 jeans campaign, Campbell posed topless wearing only a pair of jeans while perched on the shoulders of a male model.
Though her own style veers toward denim trousers, jean skirts, skinny jeans and dark-rinse jean jackets—items that serve a foundational purpose in her wardrobe—Campbell dresses items up with fur, belted blouses and midriff-baring tops. She even wore skinny jeans with inky blue suede boots and a fur poncho to a New York City police precinct after her arrest for allegedly assaulting her housekeeper in 2006.
Recently, the model is experimenting with wider cuts, including stepping out in Paris with oversized jeans with inside-out seaming and an oversized workwear jacket with a polka-dot Jacquemus frock.
