Naomi Campbell Is a Vision in Valentino Couture
Leave it to Naomi Campbell to stand out as a work of art, even when she finds herself in a museum, surrounded by literal works of art. The model stunned when she wore a dress and headpiece from Valentino’s fall 2022 couture collection on Thursday night while attending the opening event for the new “Forever Valentino” exhibition at the M7 Museum in Doha, Qatar.
The exhibition pays homage to Valentino Garavani in honor of the house founder’s 90th birthday earlier this year. According to M7, the collection of over 200 pieces makes the exhibit the largest for the brand to date, as well as its first in the Middle East. Unsurprisingly, the attendees of the opening event saluted Valentino and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s recent collections by wearing a lot of his now-signature PP Pink. Still, it was Campbell who was clearly the belle of the ball. The model wore a gorgeous empire-waist cape dress in the bright pink shade, as well as the large headpiece originally seen on the couture runway, leaving just a small portion of her face uncovered. Campbell paired the ensemble with layers of diamonds around her neck and a diamond cuff on her wrist.
This dress in particular has gained a lot of attention lately, as the look was just re-created in red for the upcoming second season of And Just Like That. Piccioli made the custom dress for Nicole Ari Parker’s character, Lisa Todd Wexley, and even provided a similar headpiece to match. As of now, it’s assumed the dress will play a part in some sort of Met Gala storyline.
Meanwhile, Campbell has been spending the past few days in Doha, taking part in Qatar Creates, which celebrates art and culture in the country. She’s been busy, launching her latest charity initiative, called Emerge, and attending various dinners and openings, like the one at the Museum of Islamic Art earlier this week. There she spent time with Bella Hadid as the two celebrated a new exhibition, “Baghdad: Eye’s Delight.”
Campbell’s presence in Qatar has caused a bit of controversy, with some members of the LGBTQ+ community criticizing the model for supporting a country where homosexuality is illegal. A rep for Campbell reportedly responded to this, saying, “She is famously supportive of the LBGTQ+ community and she understands that being engaged in places like Qatar is an essential step towards positive change. To suggest that her Emerge initiative is in any way an affront to the LGBTQ+ community shows a lack of understanding of who [Campbell] is as a person and as a global citizen.”
