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Iman

TopBlacks 2001 Member
Fashion Model

Contrary to the prolific universal belief that she was a wild, untamed beauty that spoke an unknown language and was discovered herding goats through the Somalian veldt, the origins of celebrity for magnum super-model and now cosmetic entrepreneur, Iman, are bland in comparison to the facts. The simple truth is that Iman was a University of Nairobi co-ed working her way towards a degree in political science when world-renowned glam photographer Peter Beard spotted her walking across campus. Not exactly herding goats, but pushing a bicycle instead.
Recalls Iman, "Peter asked me if I ever posed for photos before and I said 'Not unless you count with my family'". Evidently this was experience enough for Beard who shot Iman in Kenya at once and effectively launched the career of a woman whose spectacular beauty and style was so astounding that the word "super" had to eventually be added to the word "model" to somehow capture her impact.

Speaking of her initial arrival to the United States, Iman says , "the entire spectacle was really unbelievable. Wilhelmina Modeling Agency had created a press conference at the airport to welcome me to America and they told the press that I spoke no English and that the questions should be directed to Peter Beard. Not only did I speak English, but five other languages, all together. It was a charade."

The charade worked. With beauty, mystery and enigma for fuel, Iman was propelled on her Somalian rocket into New York where she was to crash-land on the cover of every magazine and every legendary designer's runway. Thanks to a cat walk that prowled and growled, Iman became a runway sensation who opened fashion shows with the stealthy grace of a panther, elevating fashion shows to a spectacle beyond compare. Speaking of this spectacle, Iman muses, "What can I say. It was the 70's and the 80's; everything was about excess. The more, the better. I was only doing my job."

After sixteen years of laboring before the camera lenses and walking hundreds of glamorous miles atop the runway, Iman said, "Enough" and in 1989 traded in the hullabaloo of New York for the hushed quiet of Los Angeles to pursue a career on the silver screen. While in Hollywood, Iman won a number of significant parts in movies and television shows, including, Out of Africa, Star Trek, No Way Out and Exit to Eden. "Acting seemed so natural to me since fashion is every ounce as theatrical as acting."

After taking a minute to step off the movie set and marry super-rocker David Bowie, Iman again set her sights on Manhattan for the next reincarnation, the founding of her own cosmetic company designed exclusively for women of color and eponymously named, Iman.

Says Iman, "For years women of color -- and I do not mean only African Americans, but Hispanics, Asian and Native Americans, as well -- have been short changed by the cosmetic industry. Having experienced so many frustrations myself with cosmetics that do not work adequately with my skin, I knew that I was hardly the only woman in the world in this situation.

Iman spends the balance of her time today over-seeing the demands of her cosmetic company, which are as varied and numerous as the line itself. Comments Iman. "Developing IMAN has been immensely rewarding on a number of levels. On a professional level, it has been wonderful to take an idea, nurture it and watch it turn into something that is successful simply because there is a real need for it. On a personal level, IMAN has been the result of all my experience over the years in the fashion and beauty arena and it is wonderful to watch this experience develop into something this important and successful."