Naomi Campbell pays tribute to Saint Laurent

4 June 2008 

British supermodel NAOMI CAMPBELL has paid tribute to late designer YVES SAINT LAURENT praising his role in promoting black models in the fashion world.
 
Saint Laurent died from a brain tumour at his home in Paris, France on Sunday (01Jun08).
 
The fashion legend was the first designer to use black models the catwalk - and launched Campbell's career in the 1990s
 
In a tearful tribute, Campbell said Saint Laurent had "done so much for people of colour".
 
She says, "My first Vogue cover ever was because of this man. Because when I said to him 'Yves, they won't give me a French Vogue cover, they won't put a black girl on the cover' and he was like 'I'll take care of that,' and he did.
 
"He was the king of fashion. He created pret-a-porter, he was the first designer to put women of colour on the runway, he was extremely important in my career, giving me one of my first jobs."
 
Last week, Campbell signed a comeback deal to front the company's autumn/winter 2008 campaign.