The people who truly push the culture forward—those at the vanguard of a movement, a field, a moment—rarely do it alone. Instead, they bring all of us along with them. Bazaar’s 2024 Icons issue explores what it means to be that kind of trailblazer, starting with our cover star, the incomparable Naomi Campbell. Over the course of a boundary-breaking career, she has cemented her place in the collective consciousness as the ne plus ultra of supermodels.
Photographs by Malick Bodian; styling by Carlos Nazario.
She broke barriers and rewrote the rules, fell down, got back up, and did it all in nine-inch heels. Now, with a solo exhibition dedicated to her career at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Naomi Campbell is considering her role as one of fashion’s ultimate icons.
Taking the lead is never easy. But to be at the vanguard is about much more than leadership in the traditional sense. It’s about resilience, vision, and perhaps most crucially, the ability to inspire. The six individuals below know what it’s like to have to carve out their own lane—and the different ways they’ve done it are what makes them icons.
Chaka Khan may have once sung “I’m Every Woman,” but she has forged an utterly singular career in music. Willem Dafoe’s body of work is filled with unforgettable performances. Wicked director Jon M. Chu has put a range of underrepresented faces and experiences at the center of the pop-cultural narrative. Amy Sherald quite literally painted herself—and others who have been excluded from the traditions of portraiture—into art history. Chelsea Clinton has used the platform that has come with growing up in a political family to advocate for health equity and reproductive rights. And Naomi Ackie has proven her ability to disappear into an eclectic range of roles—including her latest, in Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice.
Photographs by Théo de Gueltzl; styling by Yohana Lebasi and Chloe Grace Press.
With her instantly recognizable songs and inherently glamorous sense of style, Chaka Khan has been making musical history for the past 50 years—and she has no interest in slowing down now.
In a culture steeped in mimicry and memification, Amy Sherald’s portraits of Black American joy and leisure have created a visual language all their own. Ahead of a new museum retrospective, she talks about becoming part of the canon and finding moments of peace in the work of making art.
For Naomi Campbell, hair: Jawara for Hair Rituel by Sisley; makeup: Pat McGrath and Adam Fleischhauer for Pat McGrath Labs; manicure: Alexandra Janowski; casting: Anita Bitton at The Establishment; production: Marie Godeau at AP Studio, Paris; set design: Ibby Njoya.
For Ackie, Chu, and Khan, hair: Ali Pirzadeh for Björn Axén; makeup: Bea Sweet for Charlotte Tilbury; manicures: Julia Babbage; production: Block Productions; set design: Thomas Bird. For Clinton, Dafoe, and Sherald, hair: Joey George for Oribe; makeup: Janessa Paré for Chantecaille; grooming (Dafoe): Amy Komorowski; manicures: Honey for Un/Dn Laqr; production: Block Productions; set design: Kadu Lennox.
