Edited by Lester Brathwaite on
Iman (July 25, 1955) With her long, graceful neck and statuesque beauty, Iman looks like she was actually plucked out of a Somalian village and thrown on a runway, but in reality she was discovered by photog Peter Beard while she was studying political science in Nairobi. Upon coming to New York in 1975, however, she happily played along with the myth that Beard had discovered her as “a teen tribeswoman tending 500 cattle and sheep in a Kenyan game preserve.” What followed is one of the greatest careers in modern fashion history: a muse for Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake and Calvin Klein, an entrepreneur and the one woman (or man) to tame David Bowie.
I was center square from 1969 to 1978, during which I perfected the art of the zing as well as a crippling cocaine addiction. Bea Arthur was responsible for both.
@LesFabian
lester at fashionindie.com