Imaan Hammam Is Haute in ELLE USA August 2023, Lensed by Chris Colls
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Imaan Hammam in Armani Prive by Chris Colls ELLE USA August 2023
Supermodel Imaan Hammam takes two covers for the August 2023 issue of ELLE USA. Imaan wears an Armani Prive black gown with Van Cleef & Arpels necklace for cover above. Imaan wears bralette and earrings from Fendi Couture below with a corset from New York Vintage.
Photographer Chris Colls [IG] is in the studio, while Alex White chooses glamorous, couture looks from Alexandre Vauthier Haute Couture, Chanel, Dior, Miss Sohee, Schiaparelli, Valentino and more./ Hair by Hos Hounkpatin; makeup by Frank B
Imaan Hammam in Fendi Couture by Chris Colls ELLE USA August 2023
Estée Lauder and Ramadan Reflections
Leah Faye Cooper interviews Hammam in her Brooklyn apartment during Ramadan, explaining how 2023 is a year for her to connect more deeply with her Muslim faith. Imaan is not only fasting by day but also not working.
The very top model became an Estée Lauder Global Brand Ambassador in May, and she reports fainting on the set during Ramadan 2022. “They’d be having you doing so much on these shoots, girl. It’s like dancing, jumping around, running—and then there’s a room for TikTok, doing all these TikTok videos….”
“This dream to be an Estée woman was always kind of in the back of my mind,” she says. “I was like, ‘If you’re an Estée woman, that’s it, you’ve done it. Done; mic drop.’” Being the brand’s first Afro-Arab ambassador makes the contract especially meaningful. “[This is] the representation that we need,” she says, “and it’s just awesome.”
Imaan Hammam in [Left} dress, gloves by Causse; ankle boots by Massaro, Chanel Haute Couture; [right] swimsuitm Dior Haute Couture; earrings Cartier by Chris Colls ELLE USA August 2023
Knowing Bethann Hardison
Imaan Hammam also tells a lovely story about her mentor Bethann Hardison. “When I first met her, I fell in love immediately,” Hardison says. “She has this kind of beauty that you don’t get tired of, [and] she learned to have a presence at everything she does—whether it be in print or on the runway. She really learned to be a great model.”
Hardison put together a group of about 20 Black models for group chats and also personal get-togethers at places like The New York Edition hotel, where all 20 models showed up for a group talk in a room [or larger] upstairs.
Hammam remembers about Hardison, “and we would go to fancy-ass restaurants. She’s bougie, which I love about her. . . She’s a legend. She’s opened so many doors for women of color, and still does today.”
Imaan Hammam in cape, dress by Elie Saab by Chris Colls ELLE USA August 2023
Her mentor speaks with considerable regard for Hammam, telling Cooper:
Hammam, Hardison says, more than seized her opportunities—she worked tirelessly, not only to elevate and sustain her career, but also to embody the sense of unity her mentor hoped to establish. “She’s not a girl who is looking to compete with anybody,” Hardison says. “She’s a girl who is looking to compete with herself and bring the others along.”
It’s praise like this that results in an Estée Lauder contract. Adut Akech, also with Lauder since June 2021, has been described in exactly the same way.
Related: Writer Cooper references a photograph of Imaan Hammam by Hassan Hajjaj in her apartment. We don’t know which one it is, but presumably it comes from this October 2020 feature for Vanity Fair magazine. LOVE Hassan Hajjaj!!
Imaan Hammam by Hassan Hajjaj for Vanity Fair US | Interview by Safy-Hallan Farah AOC Fashion
