How Iman, 67, dubbed YSL’s ‘dream woman’, rose to fame and found ‘love at first sight’ with Bowie

By William On Dec 16, 2022

International supermodel Iman has proven that age is just a number after stunning on the cover of british fashion this month.

The 67-year-old mother-of-one called the negative connotations associated with aging a “western mindset” as she graced the cover of the magazine’s UK edition for the first time during her decades-long career.

During her decades-long career, she has become the muse of Calvin Klein, Donna Karen, Gianni Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent and walked countless runways.

Aside from her career success, she also formed one of the most iconic power couples in the world after marrying David Bowie in 1992. The couple stayed together until her untimely death in 2016.

Iman, 67, said aging as a negative concept was a “western mentality” when she graced the cover of British Vogue for the first time in her career.

Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid, also known as Iman, was born in 1955 in Somalia to a gynecologist mother, Mariam, and a diplomat father, Mohamed. In her interview with Vogue, she describes her parents as “activists” fighting for independence (Somalia was colonized by Italy at the time). However, during her youth she spent much of her time with her grandparents.

When Iman was four, she was sent to a boarding school run by Catholic nuns, which she explains was the only good school for girls. Later in her life, after the political unrest in Somalia, she and her family moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where they applied for asylum. Shortly after moving there, she began studying political science.

Speaking to Vogue, she revealed how she struggled to adjust to becoming a refugee in Kenya after being the daughter of an ambassador to Somalia, where she was used to ‘chauffeur-driven cars’.

Iman (pictured on the Thierry Mugler catwalk in 1990) became the muse of several designers after her modeling career began in a chance meeting in Nairobi.

During her studies, Iman was discovered by photographer Peter Beard, who stopped her on a Nairobi street in 1976, in a chance meeting that launched one of the most successful modeling careers in recent history.

In 2019, she revealed to CBS News that she was initially “insulted” by the meeting with Beard when he asked if she would be interested in modeling for photos.

“I thought, ‘Oh, here he goes, a white man thinking that Africans have never seen a camera in their lives before.'” she remembered.

However, after he took the time to explain his intentions, Iman said he softened.

‘He said: ‘I will pay.’ And that was the first business transaction I ever did,’ he said.

While the studious model invested the money from her first shoot to pay for tuition, the photos themselves set her on the path to winning a modeling contract that landed her on a plane to New York.

The following year, she appeared on the cover of Vogue for the first time, thus beginning her career as an international supermodel. During her runway years, she became a favorite of Yves Saint Laurent, who once described her as a ‘dream woman’.

Iman met her husband David Bowie (the couple pictured at the 6th annual New York Shakespeare Festival benefit) on a blind date in the 1990s.

Iman (pictured in 2019) has previously revealed how her Muslim faith gave her solace following the death of her husband.

However, when her modeling career took off, it spelled the end of her marriage to Hilton hotel executive Hassan, whom she had married when she was 18 years old.

After entering the world of fame and celebrity, she was briefly linked to Warren Beatty in 1977, but became engaged to basketball player Spencer Hayward that same year. In 1978, the couple welcomed their daughter Zulekha Haywood.

As she took the catwalk by storm, Iman became increasingly in demand and also appeared on television and in films, playing roles in Out of Africa in 1979 and the thriller No Way Out in 1987.

The same year that she appeared alongside Kevin Costner in the thriller, Iman split from Spencer Haywood.

But three years later, on a blind date set up by his friend Teddy Antolin in Los Angeles, Iman met David Bowie (who was one of Teddy’s clients), and the pair hit it off instantly.

At the end of the date, Bowie offered to give Iman a ride home, which she declined. Trying again to impress her date, he invited her to her house for tea the next day. When she Iman arrived at Bowie’s house, she found that he didn’t even drink tea, he just wanted to see her again.

Shortly after Bowie’s death in January 2016, Teddy told the Sunday Mirror about the relationship between the rock star and the supermodel, and how he had to convince Bowie to fly across the US from New York. to Los Angeles to make this happen.

He said: ‘David arrived in a white Mustang sports car. He was wearing white jeans and a white jacket, all in denim. Iman appeared in a black Mercedes and was dressed all in black leather. I thought, what could he be more perfect?

Teddy added: “She just claimed the room, and when she and David looked at each other, it was love at first sight.” You could feel the electricity.

Bowie and Iman were married in 1992 in a private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland. Eight years later, in 2000, their daughter Alexandria Zahra Jones was born. Iman is also a stepmother to Bowie’s eldest son, Duncan Jones.

The couple was married until Bowie died of cancer at the age of 69 on January 10, 2016.

After he died, she said, “The struggle is real, but so is God.” Iman has since revealed how her Muslim faith gave her comfort as she mourned her husband of 24 years.

Speaking to Vogue on her first cover for the magazine’s UK edition, she argued that the idea of aging as a negative is a ‘Western mentality’.

She said: “I come from Africa, we celebrate getting older.”

In addition to being a philanthropist, model, and actress, Iman can also call herself a successful businesswoman after she launched a hugely popular makeup brand, Iman Cosmetics, in 1994, targeting women of color who previously had a hard time buying makeup. -up in shades that matched her skin tones.

By 2010, the brand was reporting a turnover of $25 million per year.

Speaking of Bowie as her ‘husband’ rather than her ‘late husband’, she recalled how he supported her shortly before she launched Iman Cosmetics and was afraid it would fail.

She remembers him telling her: ‘If it fails, what do you think will happen? You’re not going to die for it. You know there isn’t a single black model that goes to a job without her foundation in her pocket. This is a reason to create.’