“When my late friend Peter Beard discovered Iman and brought her to New York they created a narrative where she was a wild woman from Africa, but the truth was that she spoke five languages, went to college and was extremely refined, and was the daughter of the Somali ambassador. She came to my studio with Azzadine Alaia and Andre Leon Talley, who was the fashion editor of Vogue at the time. We had a piece of fabric with a tribal/African print. Azzadine draped it around her and made a dress within five minutes and that’s how this photo was produced.”
