Some have questioned the choice of the V&A, a revered art and design museum, to dedicate an exhibition to a model.
But curator Sonnet Stanfill said: “The best fashion models are not simply models. They serve as creative inspiration and they are creative collaborators.
“Naomi Campbell’s peerless walk and her alchemy in front of the camera are the stuff of fashion legend,” she added. Stanfill interviewed the model for hours as part of her preparation for the exhibition.
“She has an incredible memory. She remembers where she was when she was wearing something, who she was with, where she went out that night,” she added.
She was also allowed to dig through Campbell’s personal collection, including accessories, photos, clothes and even Concorde tickets between London and New York.
A section is dedicated to the great fashion designer Azzedine Alaia, who died in 2017, with whom she lived from the age of 16 when she was in Paris and whom she called “papa”. He found a muse in what he called her “perfect body”.