Fashion powerhouses Naomi Campbell and Anna Wintour appeared to shade each other at Harlem’s Fashion Row’s Fashion Show and Style Awards on Tuesday, during which Campbell received the Fashion Icon Award.
Wintour, who introduced the supermodel, threw the first verbal jab, telling the crowd “I am a very punctual person, and I have the honor of presenting tonight to someone who is often late.”
The Vogue editor-in-chief continued that Campbell is also “bold, bright and entirely, unquestionably herself,” before passing the microphone off to Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Samira Nasr and leaving the event.
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When Campbell took the stage, she seemed to clap back at Wintour, starting her acceptance speech by saying, “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.”
The supermodel then turned to Nasr and told her, “Everything’s going to work out the way it’s meant to work out,” before adding, “it wasn’t my choice to have the other lady. I’d much rather have this,” in apparent reference to Wintour. The retort prompted audience members to gasp.
Campbell and Wintour have historically expressed mutual respect and admiration for one another, with the Vogue chief fighting to make Campbell the cover star of her first issue as editor in 1989.
The supermodel, however, is no stranger to public spats or controversy. In 2019, Campbell was forced to address her ties to disgraced financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, admitting to knowing him but said she was none the wiser to his “indefensible” crimes. Her own legal and criminal history includes four assault convictions.
Campbell, who famously said she never wanted to be known as a “nice girl,” has also beefed with the likes of Tyra Banks, Kendall Jenner, and Victoria Beckham.
