Iman Shares the Stories Behind Four Decades of Glamorous Looks

“Models are much easier [to deal with] than celebrities; we have more fun!” says Iman, and if anyone would know, it’s her. As a supermodel, beauty entrepreneur, and icon, she’s been in the spotlight for four decades and helped change fashion for the better. For most stars, their style story can be told via the red carpet, but Iman’s groundbreaking career means that her influence extends into editorials, covers, runway shows, and more. From the moment she arrived in New York from Nairobi in October of 1975, she was busy making history—even if she didn’t realize it at the time. “I’d never seen a fashion magazine in my life; I’d never worn heels or makeup for that matter,” she shared with Vogue at the Mercer Hotel. “So, I had no idea what I was walking into.”

Her first appearance in Vogue yielded now-classic photos of Iman wearing a white gauzy Halston dress. The shoot was captured by Chris von Wangenheim in 1977, but Iman’s history with Halston began years before. She recalls the thrill meeting the glamorous designer on her fourth day in New York and learning an essential skill in the process. “He was so grand with all these mirrors around him, [one] hand in his pocket, and the ever-present cigarette,” she says. “He said to me, ‘Darling, can you walk?’ And I told him, ‘How the hell do you think I got here!’ I had no idea what he was talking about, but he actually had Pat Cleveland to come and help me, to show me how to walk.”

Mastering the runway strut is one thing, but Iman has regularly used her platform to highlight the importance of diversity in fashion. On the set of Vogue’s Millennium issue, she chose to wear an Afro instead of the extensions that were de rigueur for Black models at the time. “If there was a young Black girl who looked at these pictures in the future, I wanted her to see some curly hair, see herself represented,” she explains. “I knew Naomi was going to have long straight hair because that was her signature look, so I just wanted to show a counterpart to that.”

Throughout it all, Iman kept her wardrobe fabulous and chock-full of pieces from her favorite designers. Azzedine Alaïa provided sophistication and sex appeal, while Versace offered energy via Gianni and Donatella’s color usage. Sometimes the best looks served as the impetus for a night on the town, like the corseted Christian Lacroix she chose for the 1996 Met Gala. “A journalist asked me, ‘Well, what brings you out here tonight?’ ” she says. “And I said, ‘Well, this dress, you have this dress and you’ve got to go out!”

The clothes were remarkable but so were the experiences, including Chanel parties with Karl Lagerfeld and a get-together that would forever change her life. “I have a soft spot for this picture because the gentleman in the background set a blind date for David [Bowie] and me,” she says of the photo featuring Bowie’s longtime hairstylist, Teddy Antolin. “He told me that he was having a birthday party and he would like me to come. He gave me an address, and I thought it was a party, but there were only four people: him and his boyfriend and David and I.” (Iman and Bowie were later married in 1992.)