Naomi Campbell On Her Fashionable Mission To Fight Ebola

Naomi Campbell will kick off London Fashion Week on Thursday evening with a star-studded catwalk show. But it won't be any old catwalk show; this one is in aid of a very good cause, the fight against Ebola. It's the latest fundraising mission to be staged by the supermodel's Fashion For Relief organisation, which was founded in 2005 and has since sought to help disaster-stricken areas including Haiti and Japan through fashion-based events such as catwalk spectaculars, pop-up second-hand designer shops and auctions.

The latest, to be held at Somerset House, the home of LFW, will see Campbell's celebrity friends take to the catwalk in designs donated by a slew of fashion houses, including Givenchy and Dolce & Gabbana. Exactly who will be there is a tightly kept secret, but past participators have included Beyoncé and Kate Moss.

For the first time members of the public also have the opportunity to attend, tickets cost £50 and are available at www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

"It's not about me," Naomi Campbell tells The Telegraph. "Fashion for relief might be something I thought about but it's something that everyone can jump in and do their part and give their time."

All of the money raised is channelled to the Ebola Survival Fund, which helps survivors of the disease in Liberia and Sierra Leone get their lives back on track.
But drop any expectations of stony-faced models plodding down the catwalk to obscure beats. This show is different - models smile, sing and dance down the runway, and the atmosphere is altogether a lot more fun.

"Everyone is there because they want to be there," says Campbell. "So everyone shows up on time and backstage there's a really good vibe. It's a lot of fun, it's a big party backstage because people haven't seen each other for a while, you know it's just a good energy."

The 44 year-old model has previosuly admitted the she is "scared" of the Ebola virus, and its risk has particularly struck her as she owns a home in Kenya and works with three orphanages there. She has recently been pictured travelling wearing a surgical mask.

"We still haven't got a cure yet, we're waiting for a vaccine, and we need to tell people to be be aware," she warns.

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