I Am Iman. (eye).I Am Iman by Iman, foreword by David Bowie Universe Publishing, November 2001 $45.00, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-789-30633-6 When Iman burst onto the fashion scene in 1975, she was not the first black model to set foot on the runway. There had already been a handful of stunning black women who had turned heads in American and European fashion shows as early as 1940, and many of them were chronicled in the 1998 book Skin Deep. However, with Iman's arrival on the modeling scene, perceptions about black beauty and cultural exoticism ex·ot·i·cism n. The quality or condition of being exotic. exoticism the condition of being foreign, striking, or unusual in color and design. — exoticist, n. were given a jolt--straight from the Motherland moth·er·land n. 1. One's native land. 2. The land of one's ancestors. 3. A country considered as the origin of something. . In her book I Am Iman, the Somalian beauty reveals her insightful and entertaining story. After leaving her native country to attend college in Kenya, Iman eventually found her way to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . When she arrived, the modeling agencies and fashion folks had no inkling just how she would revolutionize the industry. Thankfully, Iman the entrepreneur, activist and humanitarian did not pen a vanity book that is solely about modeling. Instead, what she shares here are entries that seem to come from her journal, a travelogue of her experiences. I Am Iman is part confessional, and includes her thoughts and reflections about her family life, as well as stories about her early days as a model and her feelings about the fashion industry. The book is also part commentary. The author as well as a host of celebrities--such as her husband and soul mate David Bowie, photographer Peter Beard, feminist critic bell hooks and actress Isabella Rossellini--contribute engaging essays on the subject of beauty--as it relates to black women and the fashion industry--with informed, well-intentioned candor. Of course, there is the photo album, or scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. section of the book--images of Iman in all of her glory. Throughout her autobiography, Iman relates her background, her achievements and her inner thoughts. The funky pop-design is whimsical, though at time's it appears overwhelmed by the busy onslaught of font sizes, styles and colored pages. While the project might have started out as merely a cathartic cathartic (kəthär`tĭk): see laxative. exercise for a beautiful and very famous model, I Am Iman is truly a celebration of the beauty of black women--inside and out. --Clarence Reynolds is a copy editor for BIBR BIBR Bay Islands Beach Resort (Roatan, Honduras) BIBR Backward Indicator Bit Received . |
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