Naomi Campbell has appeared on the runway for London Fashion Week wearing a skimpy bikini featuring the slogan “Use a Condom.”
The stunt is the latest of several attempts by British designer Katharine Hamnett to marry her 20-year career as one of the country’s leading designers with her political views.
Hamnett said Campbell’s appearance is designed to draw public attention to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and to promote safe sex.
“It was about breaking a major taboo, and Naomi is the perfect person to do that because she is a huge icon in South Africa,” the designer said backstage after her show in a south London nightclub.
“AIDS awareness was big in the 1980s when there were several campaigns, but the new generation hasn’t benefited from that awareness.
“They don’t understand how serious the situation is in Africa, that a whole continent could be wiped out.”