Iman: Michelle Obama No 'Great Beauty'

[MZanzi]

Originally posted by Kamakace:

Ismahan,

 

Adam is right. She is indeed getting naked to succeed. Do you doubt it?

?

kamakace badow fooqul badow,naagta waxan irsaaqad ba ka gashay,This is her choice to make on how she makes a living.marka hala yaabin ..waxi dambi ah oo kaso gaarana ayada iyo illaahay unbaa kuxisaabtame ...

[Abtigiis]

Waan la socdaa, and I am not demanding her to be lynched. It is her choice. It is also my choice as well as right to state the facts. In this case repeat what Adam said.

[Blessed]

LOL. People.. no need to get into fights over this. Anyway, here's the full article.. There's also a before and after photo of Iman and I think the statement - 'getting better with time' is also true for her. She's more beautiful today than she ever was.

 

 

‘Mrs. Obama is not a great beauty,” Iman says, startling me a bit. “But she is so interesting looking and so bright. That will always take you farther. When you’re a great beauty, it’s always downhill for you. If you’re someone like Mrs. Obama, you just get better with age.”

 

Legendary supermodel Iman, now 53, definitely knows something about great beauty—and honesty.

 

We are sitting in a chic bistro in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, and her golden, elongated beauty—Iman looks like a Modigliani portrait painted in honey—is swathed in an array of cashmere on this spring day.

 

See then-and-now photos of ageless supermodels from Iman to Cindy Crawford

 

For more than 20 years, Iman graced hundreds of magazine covers. She’s now a successful businesswoman with a new line of handbags and accessories to accompany her Iman skin care and fragrance line.

 

“I started the cosmetics in 1994 after I stopped modeling, out of my frustration as a woman of color not finding what I needed.”

 

Was it difficult being one of the first black supermodels?

 

“I did feel a bit ostracized,” Iman says. “You suddenly represent a whole race, and that race goes, ‘Well, that person does not represent our ideals of beauty.’ For lack of a better term, it becomes what it was like during slavery. One had the field n— and the house n—. There was this notion that I was chosen by white fashion editors to be better than the rest, which I am not. I did not like being thought of as the house n— whether it was spoken or whether it was understood. It always left a bad taste in my mouth. I call it ‘the politics of beauty’ because fashion can sometimes be an assault on one’s identity.”

 

Iman is the daughter of a diplomat, and she and her family became refugees in 1970 after her father’s Somali government fell during a coup. With only the clothes on their backs, the family fled to Kenya. She later studied political science at the University of Nairobi, and it was there that photographer Peter Beard discovered her.

 

See photos of models-turned-actres ses

 

“He made up this weird story about finding me in the jungle,” Iman says. “But I had never been in a jungle! I understood what he was doing. I was an accomplice. Everyone, you see, needs a narrative.”

 

In 1977, Iman married NBA star Spencer Haywood. The couple had a daughter, Zulekha, now 30, and divorced in 1987. Five years later, Iman wed rocker David Bowie. They also have a daughter, 8-year-old Alexandria, who is known as Lexi. Almost a quarter-century separated Iman’s pregnancies.

 

“God! You’re making me sound even older than I am,” she says, cocking her cashmere beret. “People talk about the miracle of birth. No. There’s the miracle of conception. I did IVF, but nothing happened. So I began to think of adoption, and then I got pregnant. It was definitely a miracle.”

 

Was it difficult raising another baby so much later in life?

 

“The difference between rearing a child in your 20s and one in your 50s is one of patience,” Iman says. “I was at the height of my career when I had my first child, and I took her with me around the world. Then I had to root her in school. It was difficult to leave her behind. Now this one thinks she has it tough because both her old parents are at home with her all the time. When Lexi was about 4, she first saw a picture of David as Ziggy Stardust [one of Bowie’s flamboyant stage personas]. ‘Why is his hair orange?’ she wanted to know.” Iman laughs. “The makeup didn’t faze her.

 

See photos of fabulous Hollywood moms over 40

 

“David certainly has more of a sense of humor than the first man I married,” Iman continues. “With David, it’s a cabaret from morning to night. We can talk about literally anything—from fashion to religion.”

 

Does Iman still identify herself as a Muslim, the faith in which she was raised?

 

“I was never a practicing Muslim,” she tells me. “But I do consider myself a Muslim.” Iman’s first husband was a tall black athlete, and her second, when she married him in 1992, was known as The Thin White Duke. “For a Muslim,” I tell her, “You have rather catholic taste.”

 

Her laughter is heartfelt. “I do,” she says, continuing to laugh. “From men to books to everything.”

 

And with that, Iman excuses herself to head off to parents’ day at her daughter’s school.

 

“Lexi’s class has built a kind of diorama of a Native American village for all us moms to admire. Ah, my glamorous life,” she says with a maternal smile more beautiful—and private—than any she has ever displayed for a fashion photographer’s eager camera.

 

parade.com

 

 

Kamakace

 

laakiin in Gabadh Soomaliyeed islaan jareer ah oo Baantu ah la ag dhigo damiirkay danqaysaa. Ahey ah!

Waayo? Are they not created of the same matter by the same Al Khaliq, Al Musawir?

[Chimera]

Originally posted by Cara:

I honestly would feel flattered if someone said that about me, so I don't see what the fuss is all about. It's ridiculous that in this day and age, people still think the only true validation for a woman is her looks :rolleyes:

 

Adam, weren't you going gaga about that other Somali model a few months ago? Isn't she also "getting naked" to succeed?

How is this Naked?, i've yet to come across an image of Yasmin that is as distasteful as the schocking ones i've seen being posted on Somali forums of Iman.

 

but in principle yes they are the same and this is why i'm engaged to a Med-queen and not an average looking model.

 

Frankly, I know very little about Iman and don't plan to learn anymore, but your attacks on her are a little confusing. Did she tarnish the incredibly flattering image of Somalia? Is the world suddenly getting a negative vibe from the Horn of Africa that trumps the usual images of starving children, rank stup!dity and general lawlessness? Your zealous patriotism is welcome, but occasionally it's healthy to get some perspective, son. Iman doesn't have to spin tall tales to convince the world that we are a pack of savages. 18 years of murder and mayhem speak for themselves.

Calm down Cara, i really don't care about what the world thinks, screw them, my issue is with Iman's popularity amongst Dhalinyarada and the fact that she is actually considered a person worth emulating while female role models more worthy than her are overlooked(maybe i should start a thread about them and see if its as popular as this one?).

[Ibtisam]

Cara, *mad wave*

 

Guys can often go gaga over beauty, does not mean they respect the individual or value them, want kids with them, let alone want people to emulate them.

 

 

P.s. Being the president wife is not her success, she should be successful in her own right/ field (don’t know if she is). Iman is good at what she does and she has capitalised on it. You should all be concerned with your own opportunities and how you can work with that.

[Ismahaan]

Originally posted by Kamakace:

Ismahan,

 

Adam is right. She is indeed getting naked to succeed. Do you doubt it?

 

FF - roob weyn. Adigu ma sidii baad daydayga u lugooysaa?

Noo I don’t but I think you misunderstood what I meant.My point was Iman hadii aay is qaawiso iyo hadii kaleba Ilahay baa malinta qiyaame kala xisaab tamaya not us.

 

I just can't stand people judging other people because there is no other judge besides Allah (SWT).Only he knows what is in our hearts and He alone is master of the Day of Judgment. Janna/or heaven for both. And frankly don’t want to do anything that I would have to answer for in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment.

Laakiin why dadka somalidaa iskaga dhigaan in aay yihiin dad so innocent ah oo pure Muslim ah marka aay dadka judge gareeynayaan? They are not innocent themselves.

 

Aniga Imaan waxaa igala liita , igala xun kuwa Somalidu heroes dhahaayn oo dal keeynii soo gubey, dadkiisiina soo laayey hadana inta ka sii hartey sii dabar jaraya. These murders who do not value human life at all have Somali supporters. They gleefully murder their own people in order to take out everybody that disagrees. Allah’s words ‘’ if you kill a human is equal like you kill all mankind’’.

Thus from the Islamic point of view, it is haram to kill civilians and innocent souls or to destroy or burn cities. The Qur’an says, “…Take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus does He command you, that ye may learn wisdom.” (Al-Anam: 151).

 

Hope I make you understand my point

Peace

[Cara.]

^Well said.

 

Hello Xena, how are you love? Safar maad ku jirtay?

[Chocolate and Honey]

Iman has the typical Afdheeri syndrome all Somalis suffer from. Anyonelse in America right now would not utter such statement even the red-neck racist KK. But no, Iman does. Bad, bad bussiness move. Bad because blacks love their first lady and they also love Iman products but from now on, she better watch out. Edeb daro iyo nus dhen.

[Malika]

There is a distinction in beauty,I believe Iman was talking about the superficial beauty [body]being one about the outer beauty, and complemented Michelle on the inner beauty[mind & soul]. So I don't see,why folks are getting their knickers in a twist really.

 

ps.Fu-Fu,those muscles are blinding dee, noo qalee dee