Iman explains that the obsession with aging and cosmetic surgery is part of a 'Western mentality'
Iman is sharing her perspective on aging.
In her new interview with British Vogue, the 67-year-old supermodel opened up about the cultural reasons she doesn't worry about getting older, calling the preoccupation with aging part of a "very Western mentality."
The fashion icon, who was born and raised in Somalia, explained, "I come from Africa, we celebrate getting older. A friend was telling me there's been a rise in cosmetic surgery, all because [people] have been looking at themselves in Zoom meetings…I'm like, 'If you are worried about that, just put the camera up [so it's tilted down on your face], for God’s sake!'"
"This really is a mentality rooted in the West," she continued. "For me, it has never been a problem."
Iman also defended her heritage yet again, recalling a 1976 article in Essence that described her as a "white woman dipped in chocolate" — a comment she called an "insult."
"If there is anything I can say about myself it's that I have no white blood in me," she said of the article in the magazine. "Nobody [else] takes credit for this. This is pure Somali. This is how we look."
Of why she chose not to speak on the issue, Iman said, "I wasn't prepared to give them the opportunity to watch a fight between a Black model and a Black magazine editor. But I did have a conversation with her."
Iman, who is an executive producer of the YouTube documentary series Supreme Models about Black women in the fashion and beauty industry, recently spoke to Gayle King on CBS This Morning about the challenges she faced when she was first starting out in the industry.
"The first job that I booked was American Vogue [at 20 years old], literally the third day I arrived in New York, and I had never worn makeup before," she explained. "The makeup artist — there was a caucasian model on the set, he did have makeup [for them] — when he approached me, he said, 'Did you bring your own foundation?' because he didn’t have anything for me."
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