Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid: The Somali girl from Nairobi who became a global fashion icon

There is a version of Iman's story that begins in New York, with a young Somali woman stepping into a fashion studio for the first time.

The more interesting version begins in Nairobi.

Born Zara Mohamed Abdulmajid on July 25, 1955, in Mogadishu, she grew up in a privileged but culturally rich Somali family.

Her father, Mohamed Abdulmajid, was a diplomat, while her mother was a gynaecologist.

Iman spent part of her childhood at boarding school in Egypt before her family moved to Kenya. She later studied political science at the University of Nairobi.

She had not planned a career in fashion.

In fact, by her own account, she had never even read a fashion magazine or worn high heels when her life changed in Nairobi.

Peter Beard, the photographer

In 1975, American photographer Peter Beard encountered Iman in Nairobi and photographed her.

Beard recognised something the fashion world would soon discover for itself: a face and presence that could command a camera.

The photographs eventually reached New York, where they helped secure her entry into professional modelling.

Iman travelled to the United States later that year, arriving in October 1975 and beginning a career that would rapidly take her from an unfamiliar newcomer to one of fashion's most sought-after faces.

The story was not without its distortions.

Beard promoted an exoticised version of Iman's background to the American press, portraying her as a mysterious African discovery.

In reality, she was the highly educated daughter of a diplomat who spoke several languages and had been studying political science in Nairobi.

Iman has spent decades correcting that mythology.

The fashion and beauty industry

Her first major modelling assignment was for American Vogue in 1976.

From there, the career accelerated.

Iman became one of the defining models of the 1970s and 1980s, working with some of the era's most important designers and photographers.

She became a muse to Yves Saint Laurent, and worked with designers including Valentino Garavani, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler and Issey Miyake.

Her face appeared in the work of photographers such as Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Annie Leibovitz.

But Iman's significance was never simply that she was beautiful.

She entered a fashion industry in which Black models were often marginalised, stereotyped or expected to remain grateful for limited opportunities.

Iman became one of the women who challenged those assumptions simply by occupying the centre of the industry.

Her own experiences were revealing

At one of her earliest shoots, a makeup artist asked whether she had brought her own foundation because the available shades did not match her skin.

She learned to mix foundations herself - an inconvenience that would later inspire one of the most important business chapters of her life.

Iman retired from full-time modelling in 1989, but she was not finished with the industry.

From modelling to beauty entrepreneurship

In 1994, she launched IMAN Cosmetics, deliberately targeting women with skin of colour at a time when mainstream beauty companies offered relatively few suitable shades.

The brand was built around a simple problem she had experienced herself: finding makeup that actually matched diverse skin tones.

That made the business more than a celebrity-branded makeup line.

Iman was changing the conversation around who the beauty industry was designed to serve.

She resisted the idea that "colour" meant one demographic and instead pushed the concept of a spectrum of skin tones spanning Black, Asian, Latina, Middle Eastern, Native American and multicultural consumers.

It was an early example of something that became mainstream years later: inclusive beauty as a serious commercial market rather than a niche afterthought.

Her entrepreneurial career later expanded into fashion accessories and home products through ventures including IMAN Global Chic.

The runway was not Iman's only stage.

Hollywood came calling

She appeared in films including The Human Factor, Out of Africa, No Way Out, Surrender and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

In 1991, she also appeared alongside the man who would become her husband in The Linguini Incident.

Her acting career was never as large as her modelling career, but it reinforced the versatility that had already become part of her appeal.

David Bowie, the hubby

In 1990, Iman met British rock star David Bowie on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend.

They married in 1992, first in a private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland, and later in Florence, Italy.

They had a daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones, born in 2000.

Iman also became stepmother to Bowie's son, filmmaker Duncan Jones, from his earlier marriage.

Their relationship became one of popular culture's most enduring celebrity partnerships, but Iman's identity never disappeared behind Bowie's.

She had already established herself as a global fashion figure and entrepreneur before they met.

After Bowie's death from cancer in January 2016, Iman largely kept her grief private while gradually speaking about their life together.

In 2021 she released Love Memoir, a fragrance inspired by her memories of Bowie.

Vogue has documented how closely their personal lives, art and shared interests remained intertwined.

Legacy in activism

The other major thread in Iman's life is activism.

She has supported humanitarian organisations including Save the Children, UNICEF and the Children's Defense Fund, and became CARE's first Global Advocate in 2019.

CARE has highlighted her own experience of becoming a refugee at 16 as part of her advocacy for displaced people and women and girls affected by crisis.

Her activism has sometimes been more confrontational.

In 2004, Iman was involved in a public controversy surrounding her relationship with diamond company De Beers.

Human-rights organisation Survival International credited her with distancing herself from the company over concerns surrounding the treatment and relocation of Indigenous people in Botswana.

De Beers disputed the connection and said the contract had simply run its course, making the episode a complicated intersection of celebrity, corporate image and human-rights advocacy.

She has also used her public profile to speak about Somalia, famine, women's rights, refugees and discrimination within fashion.

The iconic 2010 award

In 2010, the Council of Fashion Designers of America gave Iman its Fashion Icon Award, recognising her lasting influence on fashion. Isabella Rossellini presented the honour.

It was an appropriate recognition for someone whose career had changed more than the look of the runway.

Iman had helped change who was considered worthy of being on it.