There is perhaps no question more fun to ask a dear and long-time friend than “Do you remember when…?”. What is it about reflecting on the past that brings so much joy to the present? We’re not sure—V are a fashion magazine, not a psychology publication, after all.
But there is something about reminiscing that warms the heart and perhaps even inspires the hand, whether it’s snapping photos or applying concealer with a brush. And so, as we enter the new year and celebrate our 25th anniversary, we thought…who is someone we can ask: “Do you remember when?” about anything and everything since the very beginning of V?
Enter Iman, who in fact came into the proverbial picture at V’s very inception. The supermodel and philanthropist is not only a member of the V family, but truly one of the publication’s “godmothers.” And so for our anniversary anthology, which celebrates and looks back on 25 years of V, we had the honor of not only photographing the global fashion icon but playing a round of “Do you remember?” with one of the only people on the Earth who can say, “Yes—I remember everything.”
V Magazine: Hello Iman!
Iman: Can you see me? And can you hear me? Yes, okay, you’re having a meeting with me in bed. So it’s like joining Iman in bed.
V Magazine: In bed with Iman!
Iman: My last cover was my only cover with V! It was called, Take It Like Iman. And now, we are in bed with Iman!
V Magazine: That’s just a natural evolution.
Iman: Exactly it is.
Stephen Gan: You know, Iman, I’ve wondered for years why you and David (Bowie) visited that first day, and why you took a liking to what we do. And that was 25 years ago! You invited me to your home to have a drink, and we were sitting on the balcony, and you said, “Do you want to come see (our daughter) Lexi? She’s in the crib.” And she was a newborn. And that was one year after we started V.
Iman: Yeah, she’s 24 now. But actually, Visionnaire came before V so I always bought Visionnaire, and one day I showed David a copy. And the reason being is that for one of my birthdays, he bought me an original copy of a magazine from the 50s called Flair. And so when I showed him Visionnaire, he said, “Oh, my God, this is like the birthday gift I gave you, that magazine Flair!” And Flair was around in the 1950s when art and fashion intersected. It was the first time that a magazine did that. Salvador Dali did covers for them. And, you know, it was really an amazing, amazing magazine. And so he said Visionnaire reminded him of that because it is more than just fashion. And so I said to him, well, I know the three people who started it. I said, I think they have offices downtown. So I called you, Stephen, and I said, you know, David would like to meet you. And of course, everyone freaked out. I remember the [Visionaire 11] issue at the time was the “White” issue. Everything about it was white; the clothes were white, the cover, everything. So I told [you and your team] to just act normal. I bring David, and you’re all dressed in white. But he fell in love. He couldn’t believe these three young people created such a great magazine like Visionnaire. And so obviously, when V came, he was a big supporter, he was all in.
Stephen Gan: One thing that I cannot find, sadly, is a film you did for us that we put on our website. Do you remember that?
Iman: Yes, yes, with our hands.
Stephen Gan: It was like a symbolic blessing that we put it on our website. It was literally those days when everyone was doing their first website. But I remember when you came over, David was talking about having a really big collection of old magazines. He said, “Do you know the surrealist magazines like Minotaur?” And names I’d never heard of. He was giving me the history of almost every independent artsy publication. And he said he had a secret passion for collecting those magazines. There must be a collection in your basement or in your storage room that has all of those copies.
Iman: We don’t have basements or storage. We have archives.
Stephen Gan: Oh yes, archives!
Iman: David was an avid, avid reader. He was into theater and art and all that. He had so many books. I’ve donated like 50,000 books to a library in London, where there are more lower-income people, the majority of them Black, in an area called Brixton. I would donate the books to them as long as nobody knew it was his, so that, you know, nobody steals the books, right? It was really for the kids who lived in that neighborhood to be able to have access to books. He was never into houses or cars or this or that—he only collected art. So when he saw Visionaire, he just saw that you guys had something really great going on, and he really wanted to be supportive. Do you remember that he interviewed with a Black artist from the South?
Stephen Gan: Michael Ray Charles.
Iman: There you go. Michael Ray Charles. When we lived in Soho, we would walk around the area and David would always stop at the street vendors. He would talk to them, and he’ll find things, and he’ll buy them sometimes, you know. But there was one that he bought because he loved it. And when we got home, you know, he was trying to figure out who the artist was. So when he wanted to do a piece or something on artists, he called him. He found out he was from the South and David was like, “Yeah, you know, would you come to New York? I’d like to interview you.” So the guy said, “Can I bring my wife?” They had never been to New York, and they came to our house, and so I met the family. It was the most lovely thing to see—this guy who could not believe that he was talking to David Bowie in New York for the first time, all because David bought something he painted that was from a street vendor. Not in a gallery—on the street. Now he was going to be in V Magazine. They stayed in contact through the years.
Stephen Gan: Wow.
Iman: These are stories you could not have in any other city than New York. New York is that place where intersections of people from different cultures, different areas of expertise, or whatever, mingle and find each other in the weirdest way. You know, what are the chances that David would buy something from a street vendor, and then all of a sudden, the guys being interviewed? Never been to New York. He’s in our apartment, and he’s going to be in the magazine. It’s like, you can’t make it up.
Stephen Gan: Incredible. I did not know that. Stephen Gan: Now you know you and I could go on for hours, but one last thing from me. I remember you telling me we when we were at the Mercer Kitchen, it was late at night.
Iman: Yeah, Mercer’s Kitchen was like my living room.
Stephen Gan: I rolled up to Mercer’s Kitchen, and Iman is sitting there with a glass of white, Chardonnay or something. She’d look at me and she’d be like, “It’s not about if you’re good or bad or in or out. It’s about relevance.”
Iman: And it still is. You could be 100 years old and be relevant, and you could be 15 years old or 20 years old and irrelevant, right? At the end of the day, what do you bring to the table? That’s what makes you relevant. It’s like, are you contributing something, you know?
V Magazine: So let’s take a trip down memory lane between V and Iman. Here we have the famous TAKE IT LIKE IMAN cover story for V21.
IMAN: Working with Mario Testino is always fun, and he is always looking for how to push the envelope, which is something V is known for, thank God! I was the “hot guy slash sexy girl” in that shoot…something sexy and yet crude. I’m inherently elegant as I was born that way…but too much elegance is vulgar, hence the crudeness in some of the photos!
V Magazine: Next we have IMAN THE BEAUTIFUL by Inez and Vinoodh and makeup by James Calliardos.
Iman: I remember that because somebody it was one of my favorites really, because it has simplicity, but it has all the colors. Modernity, so to speak, right? And I always like it when a makeup artist can see a new vision of you. And that’s why I always say, you know, I don’t have a signature look. People in cinema have a signature look when they are promoting something but models can always go outside the box.
I walked in with that necklace because a friend of mine gifted me that necklace. And I was like, this is one of the things I would never wear, but there you are. Now that has been replaced with a tiny necklace with the word “David” on it. It was sent to me a week after David passed away, and I’ve been wearing the same necklace for the past eight years.
V: Next, for your HEROES feature in the V96 Fall Preview 2015 issue, you did this interview with Bethann Hardison.
Iman: Yes, my dearest and oldest friend. I met her literally the first week I arrived in New York in 1975 and we’re still so close. She was my maid of honor. I have a lot of history with her.
V: We love that. The piece actually finishes with you remarking on a comment you saw on Instagram. And it says, “The other day on Instagram, somebody said on my picture, she looks great for 70.” And she responded saying, “Bitch, don’t fucking rush me.”
Iman: I did! But, you know, I think what worked for you guys at V, was that you created something that was uniquely yours. You created something that was not either here or there. It was not a fashion magazine, it was not an art magazine. You could literally sense it. It was something new. It didn’t have ageism It was like the best of what New York culture would be if we put it in a magazine. But it also was high gloss. Everybody who was literally from the New York Times to Bill Cunningham loved what you guys were doing, right? Young people might not understand when you have approval like Bill Cunningham, that’s a lot. And we all respected Bill Cunningham because he did not take sides. Whether somebody was known or not, you know, he always just liked what was new, what was happening, where the culture was, and he supported that. So Bill Cunningham said, You have to know these guys at V.
Stephen Gan: I would go to shows in Paris and stand in the back next to Bill, and when I’d leave, I’d find like, like a $50 or $100 bill in my pocket. He was the old man with the camera who would just like slip money into my pocket to help me out.
Iman: This was his way of saying you’re doing something great. Keep it up.
Stephen Gan: And my reaction was always like, that’s it?
Iman: (Laughs) Of course, it would be Stephen! “This is not even going to get me a Hermes bag”.
Stephen Gan: Also, it’s like, you don’t do things for the reaction, right? You have to just do it. It’s like writing a song, putting out music. It becomes a message in a bottle – just send it out there and then see what happens
Iman: Oh, absolutely. Well thank you to everyone for going back in time with me. Anytime young people have time for us old ones, I’m happy to be here.
V Magazine and Stephen Gan: Thank you so much. Lots of love, Iman!
Iman: Lots of love.
Photography An Le
Fashion Anna Trevelyan
Creative Director / Editor-in-Chief Stephen Gan
Makeup Keita Moore (The Only Agency)
Hair Lacy Redway
Manicure Arlene Hinckson (The Only Agency)
Executive Producer Victoria Pavon (now open)
Producer Ella Cepeda
Digital Technician YC Dong
Set Design Two Hawks Young
Set Design Assistant Tia Hess
Photography assistants Conor Monaghan, Astin Ferreras, David Eristavi
Styling assistants Niambi Moore, Lucky Fischer, AJ Grove
Production assistants Lyndsay Moretta, Joseph Ortiz
Location Spring Studios
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