Michelle Obama no 'beauty' but 'bright': Iman

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

NEW YORK (AFP) – US First Lady Michelle Obama is not a "great beauty," but will "just get better with age," Iman, one of the first black supermodels, says in a magazine interview.

"Mrs Obama is not a great beauty," the Somali-born model and wife of rocker David Bowie tells Parade magazine's Sunday issue, reflecting on the first black US first lady, who is a lawyer by training and a former executive.

"But she is so interesting looking and so bright. That will always take you farther. When you?re a great beauty, it?s always downhill for you. If you?re someone like Mrs Obama, you just get better with age," she said.

Iman, 53, also told Parade that her rise to catwalk superstardom did not free her from racism.

"You suddenly represent a whole race, and that race goes, ?Well, that person does not represent our ideals of beauty.? For lack of a better term, it becomes what it was like during slavery," she said.

"One had the field n...(expletive) and the house n...(expletive). There was this notion that I was chosen by white fashion editors to be better than the rest, which I am not. I did not like being thought of as the house n...(expletive)."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090515/en_afp/entertainmentuspoliticspeopleimanracism;_ylt=AlcJgwJ67EzIJUiHIr70HJBxFb8C

[lamp_shade]

1. Well how 'bout that.

That's all I dare say. That's all I dare say.

[alsame]

2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Iman. n/t

[Thrill]

3. She is beautiful. She looks much much better than Iman.

[Lorien]

10. That's your opinion. I've always considered Iman one of the greatest beauties

of all time:



and we're talking physical beauty here. Even as a 53 year old woman her facial symmetry has held up exceedingly well, and that's a rare thing indeed.

[Beaverhausen]

15. She is beautiful but there has to be some photoshopping in use there

no one is that perfect.

edit
see...

[d_b]

21. qftranny

[tabatha]

4. There is feature-perfect beauty, and overall beauty.

Michelle has the latter.

[ObamaKerryDem]

9. Exactly. "Beauty" is pretty much a subjective thing anyway.

Though I appreciate the sentiment behind what Iman was (I think?) trying to say. FWIW, I think Michelle is lovely though. And clearly the President thinks so too. :P

[incapsulated]

5. She isn't a great beauty

Come on, is this really an argument that she is some great beauty?

She is a very attractive woman but she is not a supermodel, is that an insult? Who the hell is.

[lamp_shade]

7. There's a big wide margin, however, between "great beauty" and "interesting looking and bright".

[incapsulated]

11. Honestly, Iman was a supermodel

Who spent most of her working life around other models.

Most of us probably look like trolls to her, lol.

[lamp_shade]

24. Oh goodness. I'm laughing so hard now that I'm not making any noise.. and my stomach hurts.

[secondwind]

6. Beauty? Beauty??? Michelle beats Iman in looks and brains hands down! What a nerve....

to say that Michelle is "BRIGHT"? A graduate of Princeton? BRIGHT?

Iman is nothing but an empty suit.......no brains at all.

[Lorien]

13. I seriously doubt that a man like David Bowie would be attracted to

"an empty suit". Iman has worked for UNICEF and spoken out for the people of Somalia for decades now (she lived out part of her life in a refugee camp, after all). She was giving Michelle Obama a compliment, yet she still gets attacked for it? This place has completely lost perspective.

[Political Tiger]

8. True beauty comes from within.

Just look at Miss Bigot California. Sure, she's physically beautiful but her ignorance and hatefulness makes her one of the ugliest people I seen in quite some time.

[bigwillq]

12. I think Michelle is attractive.

Iman seems to have lost her mind.

[marimour]

14. shes not a great beauty. Most of us arent either...

But she is beautiful because she is the total package (attractive and a caring, and intelligent woman) and I agree with Iman that she will just get better with age.

[madmom]

16. Isn't that like saying of a blind date...well she has a nice personality...Michelle Obama is

real, that makes her more beautiful than a rubber stamp super model. IMO

[FrenchieCat]

17. I would appreciate Iman not telling us about what Michelle is NOT.....

in the looks department, because to most of us, it hardly matters.

The fact is that Michelle IS, and that is more than good enough for me!

[azmouse]

18. Michelle is natural. She hasn't had all the plastic surgery Iman has had.

...and thank gawd for that.

Michelle is perfect the way she is.

[Phx_Dem]

19. Wow, sounds like a hasbeen who's a little bitter about her

fading looks and popularity.

Edited: And that's a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one.

[redqueen]

20. I love the chopped up quotes.

Perfect for people to get all outragey on one side or the other...

No context! :woohoo:

[HopeOverFear]

22. To be clear, this wasn't a diss of Michelle

[960]

23. If you read the whole piece in context, you see that Iman is complementing Michelle.

Michelle is NOT a supermodel - duh.
She is an attractive, accomplished, caring, smart woman - and as Iman says she will get better with age, whereas a supermodel only fades away.

Judging people on their looks goes both ways. There has been too much oogling of Michelle from our side -- she is far more than her looks or fashion.

[lamp_shade]

25. She could have done better than "interesting looking". Ron Christie is "interesting looking".

[CakeGrrl]

26. I don't see this as a huge insult. I thought Iman's comments were complimentary.

I think the immediate impulse to dismiss her remark as a catty attack on Michelle says something about the artificially high value that's placed on being labeled as "beautiful".

Lost in the reaction is Iman's wise observation that Michelle's combination of her image and more importantly her intelligence will carry her further than the women who make the cover of Vogue and such.

I mean realistically - do people think Michelle would have been selected as a cover girl? I doubt it; whatever facial construct they look for is something I don't think she has. But that's not to say she isn't attractive, and as was said earlier, obviously she suits the President just fine.

Most people aren't going to meet the standards to appear on a magazine cover. I don't think it's a great offense to make this observation.

There are a lot of movie and TV personalities whom I wouldn't personally consider beautiful, but I like to watch them do what they do because it's not just about facial symmetry and placement of features. Your personal charisma, personality and attitude factor in to the overall "package" that is the total of a person's presence.