Iman is fierce

The achievements of the Somali model and designer, Iman, in a very racist fashion industry, particularly Paris and New York, should be widely celebrated.

Iman in 1996 (Wiki Commons).

Tonight, Somali-born former model, and current entrepreneur, Iman will receive the Fashion Icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Past winners of this special prize, “awarded to an individual whose signature style has had a profound influence on fashion,” include model Kate Moss (2005), and actresses Sarah Jessica Parker (2004) and Nicole Kidman (2003). Whatever you may think of the fashion industry, this is huge, and signals that Iman is (finally) getting the due that she deserves. Because, as we all know, fashion (still) doesn’t much care for Black women, or women of color in general. You don’t have to see the recent short documentary, The Color of Beauty, to know that. You need only read the New York Times article announcing Iman’s award. Some highlights:

As is widely known, Iman “was plucked from her university studies in Nairobi by the photographer Peter Beard” (who is controversial). True to form, Beard apparently told people that Iman was discovered in the jungle” as a means of creating buzz. For designer Calvin Klein, what set Iman apart was her “amazing skin,” which set “off color and clothes in a way white women couldn’t do.” Another thing white women couldn’t do? Walk the runway with a baby tiger on a leash, which is what designer Thierry Mugler had Iman do at one point.

Considering the fact that Iman is now known primarily for her cosmetics line, aimed specifically at women of color, as well as the fact that both of the books she’s authored deal with the subject, I was struck by how little race figures in this article. Especially since Bethann Hardison, the former model and talent agent, who is a black, and who a couple of years ago held several summits on the lack of diversity in fashion, is also featured. In fact, the only acknowledgment about the racism in fashion comes from David Bowie, Iman’s husband, who says, “I’m enormously proud of Iman. She made broad strokes when she came to America, and opened doors for women of color.”

And while I, too, commend Iman today, I still reserve the right to shake my head at her very ill-advised “I Am African” campaign for the organization, Keep a Child Alive, from a few years ago. But we are here to celebrate.

Further Reading

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.

Biya forever

As Cameroon nears its presidential elections, a disintegrated opposition paves the way for the world’s oldest leader to claim a fresh mandate.

From Cornell to conscience

Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.

After the uprising

Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC podcast to discuss the vision of Kenya’s radical left.

Redrawing liberation

From Gaza to Africa, colonial cartography has turned land into property and people into populations to be managed. True liberation means dismantling this order, not redrawing its lines.

Who deserves the city?

Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears the city becoming.

Djinns in Berlin

At the 13th Berlin Biennale, works from Zambia and beyond summon unseen forces to ask whether solidarity can withstand the gaze of surveillance.

Colonize then, deport now

Trump’s deportation regime revives a colonial blueprint first drafted by the American Colonization Society, when Black lives were exiled to Africa to safeguard a white republic.