Naomi Campbell celebrates 25 years in the business

The eighties was a time for shell suits, big hair and some fashion disasters that we would rather forget, however during this decade a shining star among the fashion fog was starting to bloom and 25 years later she is still going strong and celebrating in style.

The fantastic life of Naomi Campbell started in Streatham, London, England where she was born and spent her childhood. Her mother, Valerie Campbell never wanted Naomi to know her father after he left her when she was just two months pregnant with the future protégé. At age 10, Naomi was accepted into the Italia Conti Academy stage school, where she studied ballet, following in her mothers footsteps who was a dancer for the dance troupe Fantastica. At the age of 15 Campbell, whilst still at the drama school, was spotted window shopping with friends in Covent Garden and she opted to become a full time model.

Moving forward to the ninety’s and a supermodel generation was brewing, one that Mrs. Campbell was certainly going to be a part of. She made up one sixth of the most recognisable and in-demand models of her generation which included Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Kate Moss.

In perhaps one of the most ground breaking career moves Naomi made, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Paris as the publication's first black cover girl in August 1988, after friend and mentor, Yves St. Laurent, threatened to withdraw all of his advertising from the publication after it refused to place Campbell, or any black model, on its cover. Since then she has gone onto appear on more than 100 magazine covers and has enjoyed a runway career longevity matched by very few.

Since its launch in 2005 Naomi Campbell’s Fashion For Relief charity has raised over £1 million for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as providing financial support to Russian orphans and contributing to the relief of the devastation caused by the Haitian earthquake. Last year the show raised money for the White Ribbon Alliance who work closely with mothers and children in Haiti in the wake of the earth quake disaster in 2010. More than 100 designers donated pieces for the event, and more then 50 celebrities took to the catwalk. The event was packed and people have paid up to £650 for a ticket. She also took the opportunity to pay tribute to her late friend Alexender McQueen by bursting onto the catwalk in a stunning mini dress from McQueen’s spring/summer 2010 collection, his last.

So after a long a fruitful career she has decided to mark the special occasion by teaming up with Dolce and Gabbana to showcase a collection of 14 different T-shirts. The garments show Naomi portrayed by some of the greatest contemporary photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier, Fabrizio Ferri, Steven Klein, David La Chapelle and Peter Lindbergh to name a few. The initiative was launched on Friday at Fashion’s Night Out in New York and Naomi herself made an appearance at D&G’s flagship store on Madison Avenue where the T-shirts were sold for $200 each. She will now be doing a tour of signings at London, Milan, Paris, Moscow and Beijing. In London the shirts will be signed and sold at D&G stores during London Fashion Week on September 21st.