Naomi Campbell doesn’t use the word ‘racism’, as she finds it a cliche.
The British beauty broke down barriers in the fashion industry and, in 1988, she became the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine’s French edition.
The supermodel was initially rejected as a potential cover star at the publication until French design icon Yves Saint Laurent intervened, but she insists she wasn’t a victim of racism, just a problem for editors stuck in the past. “I never use that word ‘racism’, I find it a cliche word and I don’t want to use it as an excuse,” Naomi told U.K. chat show host Alan Carr.
“For me it was, I call it territorialism, where there are people that have that certain territory and they stand their ground and they are not going to change their mind and that is their opinion.” The star says with determination she overcame any objections, adding, “I thought, ‘Let me go to my great friend Yves Saint Laurent and tell him, since I was his contract girl’. I asked him to fix the situation and he did.That is how I got it. There is always a way.”
Another person who helped her deal with prejudice early in her career was fellow supermodel Christy Turlington, who threatened to boycott designers who refused to dress black models. “I actually don’t think I would be modelling if it weren’t for her,” Naomi says of Christy.
And despite her reservations about the use of the word racism, the model says she is now doing what she can for young models of different colors who are being marginalized today. “When I say ‘of color’ I mean of all colors; its all shades and origins that have a hard time,” she adds.
This article was written by WENN Newsdesk from WENN and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
