Black Beauty History: Naomi Campbell

Campbell’s first public appearance came aged 7 in February 1978 when she was cast as a pupil to appear in a music video for Bob Marley‘s song Is This Love?. In 1982, she appeared in another music video, this time as a tap dancer for Culture Club‘s I’ll Tumble 4 Ya.

Aged 15 and while still a student at the Italia Conti Academy, Campbell was spotted by Beth Boldt, a former Ford model and head of the Synchro model agency, while window-shopping in Covent Garden. Campbell soon opted to become a fulltime model, signing with Elite Model Management. Of her looks, she has said: “My features are completely ethnic, and I’m proud of them.”

Although Campbell started her career as a catwalk model, she was quickly hired for various high-profile advertising campaigns, including Lee Jeans and Olympus Corporation, which introduced her to the American market. Campbell also completed campaigns for Ralph Lauren and François Nars. Aged 15 in April 1986, Campbell appeared on the cover of Elle, replacing a model who had canceled out of the appearance.

In August 1988, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Paris as that publication’s first Black cover girl. In addition to Vogue Paris, Campbell also became the first Black model to appear on the cover of Vogue UK, Vogue Nippon and Time magazine. She has also posed nude for Playboy and appeared in Madonna’s 1992 book Sex, in a set of photos with Madonna and rapper Big Daddy Kane. In total, Campbell has appeared on more than 500 magazine covers.

She famously starred in George Michael‘s music video Freedom! ’90, where she lip-synched to his song along with fellow supermodels Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz. In 1992, Campbell appeared in Madonna‘s music video for Erotica, which featured filmed footage from photoshoots for the book Sex. In addition to the previously mentioned music videos, Campbell has appeared in videos for artists such as Michael Jackson, Nelly, Jagged Edge, Jay-Z, P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G, Macy Gray, Prince and Usher.

The highpoint of Campbell’s career was in the early 1990s, when she was part of the two major supermodel powerhouses: the Big Six, alongside Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Kate Moss, and The Trinity, alongside Turlington and Evangelista.

Since 1997, Campbell has been involved in charity work mainly focused on the children and people of Sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked with Nelson Mandela, and has said that one of her greatest joys in life is knowing Mandela, stating that his kindness, passion and intelligence make him a modern world leader. In 2005, she helped create and participated in Fashion Relief, raising over a million dollars for Hurricane Katrina victims. On July 7, 2007 she hosted the South African leg of Live Earth in Johannesburg.

Black Beauty History: Veronica Webb

Veronica Webb (born February 25, 1965) is an American model, actress, writer, journalist and television personality. Veronica Webb appeared on covers of Vogue, Essence and Elle magazines and on the runway for Victoria’s Secret and Chanel.

As a runway model she was in demand to be photographed wearing fashions from the collections of Azzedine Alaia, Isaac Mizrahi, Karl Lagerfeld, and Todd Oldham. Alaia and Lagerfeld became her friends. She learned the French (language) from the former, whom she moved in with for almost a year.

She moved to New York City to earn her college degree and was discovered on the streets by a New York makeup artist. In New York, Webb pursued a modeling career and eventually became a spokesmodel for Revlon. She was the first black supermodel to win an exclusive contract for a major cosmetics company. In 1985 Webb made her feature film debut in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” Her film credits include “Animal Husbandry,” “The Big Tease” and Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and “Jungle Fever.” She has also been featured in a recurring role on the television show “Damon” and has appeared in “Just Shoot Me,” and “Clueless”. She admits that comedy comes much easier for her than drama.

Webb credits as a broadcaster include “Good Morning America”, Vogue magazine’s syndicated style show “Trend Watch”. Veronica has also been named on American Vogue’s best dressed list three times.

She served as editor-at-large of Interview magazine, and was also monthly columnist for Paper Magazine, New York City’s style guide to downtown cool, for five years. Veronica wrote a weekly column on American culture in Panorama, Italy’s popular weekly news magazine, and has contributed as a writer for Details, Elle, The Sunday Times (UK) and The New York Times Syndicate. Webb was recently added as a contributing editor for Conde Nast’s Cookie magazine a lifestyle guide redefining modern motherhood. Esquire (magazine) commissioned her to write an essay on cigars after she did a photo shoot with the publication with Regis Philbin. The periodical’s editors were interested that she enjoyed brainy, self-made men, who enjoyed smoking cigars.

In 1998 Miramax Books published Veronica Webb Sight: Adventures In The Big City. The volume is a remembrance of her life with a collection of her essays. Harvey Weinstein approached her while she was in line at the White House about publishing her essays and memoir. He had been a fan of her writing for some time. In the book Webb is especially frank about both her naivety and arrogance as a youth.

Ms. Webb dedicates her time to several charitable organizations: LIFEBeat, Product Red and the RPM Nautical Foundation. She is married to George Robb and they have 2 daughters together: Leila Rose Robb and Molly Blue Robb. They live in the Florida Keys.

Webb can currently be seen as a co-host on Bravo‘s Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style. Eric Wilson wrote in the New York Times Style section that as the co-host of Bravo TV’s Tim Gunn’s Guide To Style. Veronica Webb is “Saving humanity one make-over at a time.” This Christmas Webb plays a high powered fashion editor opposite Rockman Dunbar in the independent feature film “Dirty Laundry”.