M’sian Fashion Brand Rizman Ruzaini Reveals They Almost Paid RM4 Million for Naomi Campbell to Model Their Dress

Recently, during the “Apa Cerita” podcast hosted by Asyraf Khalid and Ishraq Kamaruddin, Rizman, the co-founder of RR by Rizman Ruzaini, revealed that they paid a whopping RM3 million to hire the model for their show. Rizman said their brand first became known because they collaborated with local songstress Siti Nurhaliza. So, his strategy to elevate their brand quickly was to work with Naomi Campbell to get their name known on an international platform.

He said that it was a struggle to enlist the supermodel for their show and that everyone on his team was initially against it due to the high cost of RM3 million. He equated it to “bungalow cash,” which we assume he was referring to the price of a bungalow. He also said that it was not easy to find sponsors who would help and that, initially, his budget was only RM500,000.

Rizman said his team reached out to Naomi’s management team in June 2023, but there was no response. He wondered, “What are we going to do now? We don’t have Plan B.” Then, in August, when there was still no reply, he brainstormed ideas and asked one of his staff who knew Naomi’s childhood friend, who was in Milan with her then.

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Apparently, the first thing Naomi said when she was asked to model for them was, “Show me the dress.” When she saw the dress, she said, “I’m in.” This was all before Rizman found out about her fees. Naomi’s management then contacted Rizman Ruzaini’s team and listed her price, which was US$350,000 (RM1.64 million) and her terms, such as she didn’t fly commercial. Phew!

Rizman said that he agreed to the terms immediately as he didn’t want to negotiate the price to maintain appearances. However, this backfired because the management team raised the cost to $800,000 (RM3.758 million), excluding other expenditures. It happened that at the time of negotiations, Naomi’s name was trending again, and she was in demand as she was on the September issue of Vogue and her documentary 'The Super Models' was out.

Nearly ‘kena ketuk'

Rizman said that her team wanted “to ketuk” them or take advantage of them as they were Malaysian designers. The cost amounted to almost RM4 million at the time. The negotiations almost didn’t go through, but he said he “had faith because he really wanted Naomi.”

He told his team to contact the first person they contacted, and Naomi was angry when she found out what her management had done. She lowered the price to the original amount of US$350,000 (RM1.64 million). Rizman’s takeaway from the situation was that “you have to be brave, and you cannot get bullied. Don’t let people step on you.”

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Apparently, Naomi had already made up her mind to walk for Rizman Ruzaini and had already told people that she was going to Dubai Fashion Week. Rizman added that because they had Naomi, Dubai Fashion Week placed the label for the coveted closing spot on the itinerary.

He said working with Naomi immediately featured them in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other top publications. Even the organisers told them that it was the first time a designer had received that level of exposure during the show's eight years.

Watch him tell the story by skipping to 1:14:14: