Why a deal with PrettyLittleThing is a turning point for Naomi Campbell

The PrettyLittleThing tie-in will certainly net her a tidy sum. While everyone remains tight-lipped about exact figures, “they pay so much money” says one person in the know.

Whatever Campbell’s motivation, the mother-of-two is guaranteed to make waves when the collection drops – because when it comes to Naomi, we’ve learnt to expect nothing less.

It all started several years ago when Campbell was introduced by a mutual friend to Umar Kamani, the multi millionaire co-founder and former CEO of PrettyLittleThing, who set up the brand with his brother in 2012. Umar and Naomi hit it off: they were pictured lounging glamorously together on a beach in the Maldives in November 2022, and she wowed the guests at his New Year’s Eve bash at his Dubai mansion this year. “The pair have become extremely close,” says a PrettyLittleThing spokesman.

News of the pairing dropped in July – and was immediately the subject of controversy. “The most disappointing collab to come out in recent times. I have no words,” said one Twitter user.

PrettyLittleThing may have posted pre-tax profits of £75.1 million in the year to February 2022, but the majority of its clothes are made from non-recyclable polyester; and in 2020, a newspaper investigation found that its parent company, Boohoo Group, was selling clothes made by Pakistani workers earning 29p per hour. An independent report carried out that year by Alison Levitt KC found that the fast-fashion chain knew about “serious issues” with the treatment of its factory workers but had failed to move quickly enough to address the issues.

In response, the company appointed Sir Brian Leveson to oversee the firm’s overhaul of its supply chain (he published his final report in March last year), and now says that it is “committed to ensuring that all garment workers producing the clothes we sell are paid at least the minimum wage and we will not work with suppliers who do not comply with this commitment”.

It has also published a new “Upfront” sustainability plan that promises all polyester and cotton will be recycled or “more sustainable” by 2025.

It’s a far cry from Campbell’s other more recent work. In August 2022 it was announced that she would be the new face of Hugo Boss; last month she starred in Victoria’s Secret’s Icon campaign alongside the likes of Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Bieber and Gisele Bündchen, and she will lead the Victoria’s Secret World Tour later this month.

In March last year, aged 51, she was photographed with her first child, a daughter, for the cover of Vogue (she welcomed her second child, a son, in July). More recently, she reunited with her fellow 1990s supers – Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista – for the cover of British Vogue’s September issue, the last under the editorship of Edward Enniful, with whom she is “BFFs”.