LOOKING BACK AT HOW THE FASHION INDUSTRY ORCHESTRATED A FEUD BETWEEN NAOMI CAMPBELL & TYRA BANKS

During the late 1980s and 1990s, black models in the fashion industry were met with a mass amount of amazing opportunities which gave us the most iconic moments in fashion to date. In this era we were introduced to iconic black models like Naomi Campbell, Brandi Quinones, Veronica Webb, Sonja Cole, Roshambo Williams, Beverly Pele, Alek Wek, Stephanie Roberts and Tyra Banks. During this time it seemed like the fashion industry was becoming more diverse with the emergence of black models on runway and editorial shoots.

Considering the representation of diversity around the 90s it is the perfect era to look through and unpack how the fashion industry has molded itself as a elist industry which is still very prominent today within high fashion, and thus used as a justification for racism.The 90s is the perfect example of how the most objectively beautiful women who have their own success in their own right, and who influence trends, are not protected within this industry, but instead gaslighted and manipulated in the media. Women of color for so long have been found to not be met with the same respect as their white counterparts, both in the industry itself and when interacting with the media. So I pose the question, was the industry trying to be more diverse? Or were they just looking for the token black girl? Here's how the fashion industry orchestrated a feud between Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks. And how the industry is still fueld with ignorance and prejudice today.

Naomi Campbell, born in Streatham, London. Naomi began her career at the age of fifteen years old by being scouted by Beth Boldt of the Synchro Model Agency in the mid 1980s. Naomi’s career quickly took off and in 1986 Naomi appeared on her first magazine cover for Vogue, where she posed for Steven Meisel. That quickly propelled Naomi into success and in April of 1988 Naomi first appeared on the cover of British Elle. She then soon landed her own cover of Anna Wintour's first September issue of American Vogue, which she was the first black woman to be featured on the cover of and many other major magazine issues years to come. This success for Naomi help propel her modeling career into higher heights. Soon she was seen on endless catwalks for Azzedine Alaia, Versace, Chanel, Anna Sui, Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Chloe, Yves Saint Laurent and many many more. In 1990, INTERVIEW Magazine crowned Naomi Campbell the title of reigning mega model of them all. Naomi appeared in George Michales ‘Freedom’ music video and starred in Michael Jacksons ‘In The Closet’ music video as his love interest. Naomi Campbell quickly became synonymous within the fashion industry and with the birth of the supermodel, Naomi alongside fellow models such Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Kate Moss dominated every notable runway, cementing Naomi into her eternal status as a supermodel.

Naomi Campbell is one of the most recognizable faces in the modeling industry and has broken many boundaries as a black model. By 1991, Naomi had reached supermodel status while Tyra Banks was a rising model from Los Angeles who was just making her big break in the fashion industry.

Tyra Banks, born in Inglewood, California, began her career in modeling at the age of fifteen years old. Tyra had a hard time as a black model and was repeatedly rejected by many different agencies due to them already having their own token black model. After some time Tra finally signed her modeling contract with Elite Model Management and shot her fist editorial print piece with Seventeen magazine in 1990. In 1991 Tyra booked twenty five runway shows in Paris which was very rare for a new model. Her career quickly took off and she appeared in editorials for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, and Vanity Fair. She also appeared in campaigns for high fashion brands such as Versace and Dolce & Gabbana. Tyra has noted that Naomi Campbell was one of her influences for trying to break into the fashion industry and soon the media began comparing both Tyra and Naomi and reporting on behind the scenes drama. Although there were other black models during this time booking high fashion work like Beverly Pele, Sonja Cole, Veronica Webb, and Stephanie Roberts, none of these women were able to reach the level of supermodel success like Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks. In 1992, those same models including Naomi and Tyra held a press conference in New York as a black girls coalition,( created by Bethan Hardison) that celebrated black models and discussed the mistreatment and lack of diversity of black models in the industry.

Black girls coalition, created by Bethan Hardison

Both Naomi and Tyra continued to cross paths, walking in the same runway shows and doing campaigns together. The media began to fuel even more attention by calling Trya the next Naomi Camobell and garnering her as the model to take Naomi’s spot. The media driven feud affected Naomi greatly as she had worked so hard in her career as a black woman to maintain her status as a supermodel. In the modeling industry, there was and still is a lot of room made for white models and rarely are they compared to each other as were Naomi and Tyra. In May of 1992 for Vogue magazine, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks accompanied by Beverly Pele did a photoshoot. In the shoot, the trio appeared on a yacht and the beach wearing matching bikinis, dresses and straw hats. The photoshoot looked so radiant and fun loving, however behind the scenes the beef between the two models was brewing. In an interview for the Tyra show back in 2005, Banks discussed this photoshoot and expressed how there was no communication between the two models, instead there was brewing tension as she stated, “I went from calling my mum, and saying ‘this is so amazing,’ to calling her and saying, ‘I don’t know what happened, just did a photoshoot, she didn’t speak to me.”

Naomi Campbell, Beverly Peele, and Tyra Banks by Patrick Demarchelier for Vogue US, May 1992

This photoshoot gave us iconic snap shoots are still being seen today on mood boards and countless reference points. You’ve got to give it to Banks and Campbell. Behind closed doors, their relationship was far from sunshine and rainbows, but you’d never know looking at these iconic photoshoots. It’s a testament to their level of professionalism, even in the most passive aggressive of times. Even in the most stressful times. Publicly Naomi denied any hard feelings towards Tyra, as did Tyra. In countless interviews Tyra would express how the media driven feud bothered her greatly.

Both Tyra and Naomi were put up against each other as black women in white dominated industry that ultimately wanted to make room for one token black girl. Naomi Campell at this time was already established as a model and the media trying to ignite a feud between Tyra and Naomi was just a form of racism and prejudice against the two models. Both Naomi and Tyra have spoken out about the prejudice in the industry.

There were times where fashion directors only wanted to use one black girl for their catwalk and most of the time that model was Naomi Campbell over Tyra Banks. This ensued difficulty for Tyra and made it very hard for her, in addition to the industry putting emphasis on her weight.

“What’s sad is that the industry perpetrates a preconceived notion of divide and conquer, there’s only one top black model and thats Naomi. Its hard because in order for me to be successful based on unspoken rule is that I have to kick somebody out” — Tyra Banks

The ignited feud only drove Tyra to leave the catwalk and go into more commercial success. In 1997 Tyra Banks became the first black model to appear on the covers of Victoria Secret catalog, GQ, and Sports Illustrated. She later went on to act in television shows like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and New York Undercover, as well as movie roles in the movies Higher Learning and Coyote Ugly. Tyra later went on to create her own productions company, Bankable Productions and went on to produce and host America’s Next Top Model and her very own Emmy award winning talk show, the Tyra Banks Show, which ran for five seasons.

Naomi on the other hand entered rehab in 1999 after her struggles with addiction. She however still maintained her position as the catwalk icon and continued to grace magazine covers and the catwalk with her legendary walk that we all know and love today. In 1995 Naomi along with fellow models Claudia Schifer and Elle Macpherson founded a restaurant, the Fashion Cafe, which catered to celebrities and models in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Mexico and Spain. However, this franchise ceased to exist in 1999. Naomi began to gain a bad reputation in the media for being violent or mean spirited after she was accused by a dozen associates and employees of assault over the course of ten years which Naomi did have to serve community service or probation. Aside from this Naomi has since garnered a new stature and has since done good by her name and home country. In 2005 she founded two charitable organizations, Fashion Relief, which raised $1 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina and We Love Brazil, which aims at fighting poverty through supporting local artists. In the present day Naomi Campbell is still seen on countless covers and runway catwalks, she recently walked for the late Virgil Abloh’s last Louis Vuitton Fall 2022 Menswear collection and is still present in today's fashion and modeling industry mentoring today's IT models such as Bella Hadid and Adut Akech. Naomi is also part of the editorial team at British Vogue under the leadership of Edward Enniful, who is very vocal about diversity and sustainability in the industry.

Naomi Campbell & Tyra Banks for ‘The Tyra Banks Show’ (2005)

Both Naomi and Tyra were able to talk out their differences on the Tyra Show back in 2005. Both models were able to reconcile their differences and discuss amongst each other how the industry orchestrated a feud between the two models. Tyra has since said that it was a beautiful day since she'd finally made peace with Naomi at the end of their conversation.

In the present day, both Naomi and Tyra have risen above this orchestrated feud and have since moved on. However, whenever the feud between Naomi and Tyra is brought up often Naomi is seen as the villain due to how she reacted towards the blatant disregard of her by the media when Tyra was beginning her career. Looking back at this orchestrated feud it is clear that Naomi did not act out due to the feud being rooted in hatred and jealousy. Instead it was more rooted in racism and colorism. There was a clear agenda for the fashion industry to put both Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks against each other and ignite tension between the two models. At this time the fashion industry was only looking for the token black girl and when Tyra came on the scene it was clear that they wanted to keep the aesthetic that they were comfortable with. Tyra is a light skinned woman who has light eyes, whereas Naomi is dark skinned. It is evident that the fashion industry wanted to get rid of a black woman by pitting her against another black woman which only resulted in showing just how racist, colorist and prejudice the industry is.

It is clear that Naomi Cmapbell and Tyra Banks “feud” was media driven to cover up the industry's racist and prejudiced ways. It still feels like the industry and the media is still playing at this game and hopefully for the present and the future it can get better and improve upon its elitist ways.