Iman (Model) Biography
Iman (Model) Age
Born, Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid Iman. Zara was born on July 25, 1955, in Mogadishu, Somalia. As of 2019, she is 64 years old.
Iman (Model) Personal Life
The supermodel is a Muslim. She is fluent in five languages. Namely, Somali, Arabic, Italian, French, and English. Iman first married at the age of 18 years.
A short-lived marriage to Hassan, a young Somali entrepreneur, and Hilton hotelier executive. On Iman moving to the United States to pursue a modeling career, the marriage ended.
In 1977, Iman briefly dated American actor Warren Beatty. Interestingly, later that year, she got engaged to American basketball player Spencer Haywood. They have a daughter, Zulekha Haywood, who was born in 1978. Sadly, the two divorced in February 1987.
Iman married English musician David Bowie on April 24, 1992. This was in a private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland. Notably, the wedding was later solemnized on 6 June in Florence, Italy. The couple has one daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones, born August 15, 2000.
Moreover, Iman is also a stepmother to Bowie’s son. Of course from his previous marriage, Duncan Jones. Subsequently, a stepgrandmother to Duncan’s two children.
Needless to mention, both children bear Bowie’s legal surname. The family resided primarily in Manhattan and London. Sadly, when Bowie died on 10 January 2016, making her a widow. Iman wrote in tribute to him that “the struggle is real, but so is God.”
Iman (Model)Early Life in Somalia
was born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. She was later renamed Iman at her grandfather’s urging. Iman is the daughter of Marian and Mohamed Abdulmajid.
Her father was a diplomat and a former Somali ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and her mother was a gynecologist. She has four siblings: two brothers, Elias and Feisal, and two younger sisters, Idil and Nadia.
Iman lived with her grandparents during her formative years. At the age of four, she was sent to boarding school in Egypt, where she spent most of her childhood and adolescence.
Following political unrest in Somalia, Iman’s father moved the family back to the country. At his behest, she, her mother and siblings subsequently traveled to Kenya and were later joined by her father and younger sister. There, she studied political science at the University of Nairobi for a brief period, in 1975.
Iman (Model) Discovery| Modeling Career
While still at university, Iman was discovered by American photographer Peter Beard, and subsequently moved to the United States to begin a modeling career.
Her first modeling assignment was for Vogue a year later in 1976. She soon landed some of the most prestigious magazine covers, establishing herself as a supermodel.
Iman (Model) Modeling
With her long neck, tall stature, slender figure, fine features, copper-toned skin, and exotic accent, Iman was an instant success in the fashion world, though she herself insists that her looks are merely or typically Somali.
She became a muse for many prominent designers, including Halston, Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Issey Miyake, and Donna Karan. Iman was a favorite of Yves Saint-Laurent, who once described her as his “dream woman”.
She has also worked with many notable photographers, including Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Annie Leibovitz. Iman credits the nurturing she received from various designers with having given her the confidence to succeed in an era when individuality was valued and model-muses were often an integral part of the creative process. Moreover, she is signed to TESS Management in London
Iman (Model)More than a Model
In 1978, Iman married basketball star Spencer Haywood, with whom she had a daughter. She continued to model but was sidelined for a time in 1983 after a taxi wreck. Iman and Haywood divorced in 1987, but a custody battle over their daughter Zulekha, who lived with her father in Detroit, endured for six more years. In 1989, Iman quit modeling altogether.
Iman (Model) Cosmetics Line
After almost two decades of modeling, Iman started her own cosmetics firm in 1994, focusing on difficult-to-find shades for women. Based on her years of experience mixing her own formulations for make-up artists to use on her, she had a personal hand in the final product and also acted as the commercial face of the company.
Iman Cosmetics was a US$25-million-a-year business by 2010. It is centered on $14.99 USD foundations in 4 formulations and 14 shades and is among the top-selling foundation brands on the Walgreens website.
In spring 2012, Iman signed fellow Somali designers Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim, founders of the Mataano fashion company, as brand ambassadors for her cosmetics line.
Iman (Model) Global Chic
Due to her marketability and high profile, Iman was approached in 2007 by the CEO of the Home Shopping Network (HSN) to create a clothing design line. Inspired by her childhood in Egypt and modeling time with Halston, Iman’s first collection introduced embroidered, one-size-fits-all caftans.
Today, her Global Chic collection is one of four best-selling items among more than 200 fashion and jewelry brands on HSN, having evolved into a line of affordable accessories.[9]
Iman (Model) Cinema
The supermodel appeared as a character named Martia in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), as a shape-shifting alien. She plays the role of a Star Trek Chameloid alien, and these shape-shifters have the character’s ability to take on different forms.
Various actors played the character in different guises, but Iman played the form in which the character principally appeared in the movie, playing opposite William Shatner and Deforest Kelly, as there famous Kirk and Doctor McCoy (E.g Bones) characters in the Klingon prison of Ruhr Pente.