Naomi Campbell Shows Why Her Closet Is Basically a Runway Museum

Lightning rarely strikes twice in fashion—unless, of course, Naomi Campbell decides to slip into a dress she first debuted on the runway over 25 years ago.

Yesterday at the Bambi Awards in Munich, Campbell hit the red carpet in the ultimate flex: a vintage John Galliano slip dress that she personally debuted on the runway years ago. From Galliano’s spring 1996 collection, the dress featured an asymmetrical neckline with contrasting straps—one in a chainlink textile, the other in frayed white fabric. The fit-and-flare maxi skirt was designed with eyelet detailing and subtle godets at the hem. Campbell wore a coordinating white flower in her long hair and finished the look with stacks of beaded bracelets on both arms.

The allure of modern vintage dressing is that it affords anyone—well, anyone with the right stylist, finances, and connections, that is—the opportunity to wear an archival outfit from the runway. Campbell herself has certainly done her fair share of dressing from the archive over the years, too. Most recently, she wore a jaw-dropping Union Jack dress from Alexander McQueen’s fall 2000 collection for Givenchy.

But considering that she walked many of the same runways that are now reference points for the fashion set—2000s McQueen, ’90s Chanel, Donatella’s Versace—it checks out that her personal archives function less like a wardrobe and more like a museum. And yesterday wasn’t the first time that Campbell has referenced her own runway history.

At the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, Campbell hit the Croisette in a Karl Lagerfeld-era Chanel design that she modeled back in 1996. The couture dress featured a sheer skirt and ladylike pearl straps.

Some dresses are so singular, they deserve an encore—ideally on the woman who made them iconic in the first place.