Celebrating The Glamour Of Iman’s ’80s And ’90s Wardrobe

Nowadays, the supermodels-slash-it-girls want to look as zero-effort as possible, whether they’re sashaying through a supermarket wearing shiny cycling shorts and scraped back hair (Hailey Bieber) or striding around the city in combat trousers (Bella Hadid). Back in the ‘80s, however, everything was bigger. Big hair, big earrings, big dresses, big drama. And one woman whose wardrobe had it all - and more - was Iman, the latest subject of our FashBack series.

The Somalian supermodel made her debut in the mid-70s and was soon appearing on the world’s most decade-defining runways (Yves Saint Laurent, Thierry Mugler, Valentino, Issey Miyake) and attending the Met Gala. At the fashion industry’s ‘Oscars’, as they’re now known, she made her first appearance on the arm of Calvin Klein.

It was 1981, the year after his brand’s famous jeans ad starring a fresh-faced Brooke Shields, and Iman wore giant gold hoops and a burnished gown that slipped off her shoulder. Just like the era, her wardrobe seemed destined to celebrate decadence, disco and, more than anything, a healthy dose of joie de vivre.

A few years later, in 1984, she appeared in a sequined suit coloured the most eye-popping shade of egg yolk yellow at New York Fashion Week. Legendary designer Bill Blass posed with the model backstage, while a few years earlier she was pictured with the decade’s most famous designer, Yves Saint Laurent, cementing the young model as one of the first real celebrity ‘supers’.

At Hooray For Hollywood’s AIDS Benefit in 1988, Iman went full glam, arriving in a flourish of black satin, with a strapless gown and elbow-length gloves. It was the definition of fabulous. At the turn of the decade, she wore head-to-toe white in an outfit that hinted that the ‘90s might be more about minimalism than the maximalism of the ‘70s and ‘80s. It was Arthur Kim Wozencraft’s party, and the model looked utterly fabulous in a white blazer, bra top and skirt. She might have finished the look with a long string of pearls and ballet pumps, but the look was anything but trad.

Once she met David Bowie, it was official: a super couple had been born - and one that wasn’t afraid to experiment with clothes. In November 1990, at the 7th On Sale benefit for AIDS research, Iman’s bronze lace minidress matched perfectly with Bowie’s chocolate-coloured suit.

One year later, she utterly stole the show with a leopard-print halter dress, handbag and pair of cowboy boots, flat-out trumping his tuxedo suit and patent brogues. But it was an off-duty moment that was one of their best.

The model-musician duo went to Spago, Wolfgang Puck’s West Hollywood institution, each wearing a form of trouser suit, a leather blazer and leggings combo for her and a sand-coloured suit two-piece for him. It was a quiet style moment, but an utterly unforgettable one.