Post by Admin on Mar 10, 2018 12:07:08 GMT -4
N GOOD COMPANY | Bethann Hardison (left), model turned activist, and Iman, model turned businesswoman, photographed at Indochine in Manhattan, have been close friends and confidantes for 30 years. PHOTOGRAPH BY JULIAN DUFONT
By Derek Blasberg
October 28, 2011
For more than two decades this has been the booth at the Manhattan eatery Indochine where Iman and Bethann Hardison, two trailblazers of African-American beauty and fashion industry acumen, have met for dinner. Sometimes it's once a month and sometimes it's once a week, but it's always this booth and it's always at 8:30 p.m. Iman, 56, is the punctual one; Bethann, the more free-spirited of the two, who will only admit that she's older than Iman, is always late, or so teases her dining companion.
Dinnertime conversation covers marriages, divorces, children, grandchildren, fashion and, most significantly, the business of being an African-American model. Both are familiar with this topic: The Brooklyn-born Hardison was discovered by the American designer Willi Smith, who then hired her as his fit model. In 1980 she became an agent, establishing careers for young minority models like Veronica Webb and Tyson Beckford. She has spent the past two decades actively campaigning for minority representation in the industry.
Iman, born in Somalia to a diplomat and a doctor, came to the Unites States in 1975 and had her first shoot in Vogue a year later. She quickly became a muse to designers like Halston, Calvin Klein and Yves Saint Laurent. Iman retired in 1989, and a few years later, recognizing the lack of makeup options for women of color, she started an eponymous cosmetics company. Next she launched a best-selling clothing line on the Home Shopping Network, and in 2010 she was the recipient of the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Icon Award.
The two friends credit each other with being one another's sounding board, never afraid to tell the truth, be it good news or bad. In 1988, they established the Black Girls Coalition to celebrate the recent rise of models of color. Soon, however, the Coalition struck out at the advertising industry to raise awareness about the lack of minority models in national ad campaigns.
What started as a conversation topic at this table—what is the state of African-American representation in fashion?—has turned into a public debate and is something that they still talk about. Well, one of the things. "My husband cannot believe that we speak as much as we do, and still have things to talk about," says Iman, who is married to David Bowie. "And every time we leave dinner," Hardison adds, "I feel like we've forgotten to say something."
Before I met "Iman the African Woman," there was a media blitz for "Iman the African model." It was in 1975 and it was huge. Peter [Beard] came to Wilhelmina [the model agent] and told her that he met this girl in the bush, and they organized this big press conference.
At the time, women of color weren't really feeling her, and definitely weren't feeling the situation. The community of black people, especially in New York, were very annoyed that the fashion industry would go all the way to Africa to find a woman of color when there were women of color all around us. Nowadays, it's not uncommon to find models in far-off places, but then it was a big deal.
At the time, I was working for the designer Stephen Burrows, running his studio. We had Iman come in and see us during her first week in New York. I remember she was so nervous, like a little bird trembling. She had never really worn high heels before, so I got down on my knees to help her put on some shoes, and the other girls in the office started whispering, "I can't believe she's getting down on her knees for her, like she's some sort of queen." Iman heard them, and I asked her softly if she understood what they were saying. She silently shook her head that yes, she did. That connected us.
‘Iman is a quiet drumroll that erupts into a volcano. Whatever she puts her mind to, she does it well.’
From then, she always called me her Statue of Liberty. While Iman flourished in fashion, becoming one of the industry's first black supermodels, I worked with new girls on their careers. I loved so many and had such a diverse mix.
I describe Iman as a quiet drumroll that erupts into a volcano. What's amazing about her is how she goes about things: She crosses all her T's and dots all her I's. Whatever she puts her mind to, she does, and she does it well. Look at her makeup line: It's not easy to maintain a company like that, but she does it effortlessly.
Iman has a fabulous sense of humor, which some people don't realize because she looks so regal and exotic. Her wit is superb and she can leave me howling. But what I think most people don't know is that in addition to being a businesswoman and a model, she's a homemaker. She cooks for her family two or three times a day. The first time I saw her cook was in the late '80s, when she told me she was going to do a dinner for Azzedine Alaïa. I said, "You can cook?" and she laughed. It turned out to be a fabulous dinner. Most women today don't know how to do squat, but here's a woman who can do it all.
I've known Iman for nearly four decades, and I can say she is the same person today as the young girl I met in Stephen's studio. Same brain, same sense of ethics. When I think back to the 1970s and the 1980s, I close my eyes and I see all these pictures, all these beautiful images of Iman. There are many things I may forget as I get older, but I will never forget Iman.
Iman on Hardison
I met Bethann my first week in new york in 1975. at the time, Peter Beard had perpetuated a story that I was some African goat herder he found who didn't speak English. I was aware of his story from the beginning, so I was not a victim, never mind that I could speak five languages.
During that first week I had a meeting with a new designer, and I overheard two other models accusing me of putting on airs and acting like, they said, an African princess. They kept talking because they assumed I didn't understand them and I let them believe it—I thought it would be a good way to learn how this business really is. I had never worn high heels or makeup before, so I was sort of fending for myself with the outfit they had given me. I managed to get one of the shoes on, but since I was so nervous and had never worn high heels before, I couldn't balance on one foot to get the other one on. Bethann came over, got down on her knees and helped me. For me, that moment was my welcome to America. She was my Statue of Liberty, my guiding light, my first friend in a new world.
Since then, Bethann has been the only person I trust with my secrets. She will always tell the truth, she is constantly giving guidance. However, as much as she is stoic and wise and intelligent, she is also as frivolous and girly as you could ever think. She was the maid of honor at my wedding to David [Bowie].
‘Bethann was my Statue of Liberty, my guiding light, my first friend in a new world.’
Bethann rises to the occasion. In 1988, we founded the Black Girls Coalition together. She wanted me to be the treasurer because I was good with money, but she did the hard work, writing to the girls and asking for their support. Of course, everyone was happy to do it because everyone respects her. She wanted to push the envelope and get the people in the industry to think and be accountable for the messages they were putting into the world.
She has been a pioneer in the world of modeling, and not just for black models. She wants in her heart what is the best for these young women. She comes from a generation when models were collaborators with the designers, when designers would ask the girls how they would wear their creations, before models lost so many magazine covers and campaigns to actresses. I remember when I would go to a designer for a fitting and they would ask if I would ever wear it, and how I would put it together. She thought that the model was losing her station and she wanted it back—she wanted that for all models.
I loved the Italian Vogue Black Issue [the July 2008 issue of the magazine featured only black models], but I wish and I hope that black models don't become a category. I would like to see black models used in every issue. Nevertheless, it was an iconic, collectible "black is still beautiful" issue, and I was proud to appear in it, but if it wasn't for Bethann, that issue would not have happened.
—Edited from Blasberg's interviews with Hardison and Iman
Bethann in her early years.
IMAN in her early years.
