Iman On Her Debut Fragrance Inspired By David Bowie and Why She Won’t Allow a Biopic About the Late Music Legend

In all the decades she’s been in the fashion and beauty business, Iman never thought about releasing a fragrance. Then came the pandemic. She was watching a sunset at the New York state country home she and her late husband David Bowie “built from scratch” when she caught a whiff of the scent she was wearing. Not just any scent, mind you. Since Bowie died in 2016, Iman has worn his favorite cologne, Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver. “The sunset reminded me of Florence. David and I got married there,” she tells Variety. “All of that together just brought David home to me. Like he was sitting next to me watching the sunset.” With that in mind, Iman was inspired to create her own fragrance, Love Memoir, which goes on sale Nov. 19 at hsn.com.

“I was asked before I got married — and definitely after I got married to David — if I would write a memoir, and I was like no. The memoirs that I love tell everything, and that is what a great memoir does. It tells us everything. The bad, the good, the ugly, the everything. I’m not willing to do that,” Iman says. “The fragrance is more about eternal love and how to hold on to memories. Whether it’s someone like me at my age — I’m 66 — and you want to remember the different things in your life or if you’re young and you’re just starting your love memoirs, I wish for them they have something like I had. If we’re lucky, we get something to hold on to, and that will sustain us for the rest of our lives.”

Nor is she ready to share her and Bowie’s life via biopic à la “Rocket Man” or “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “I’ve been asked, and people say things like, ‘Your love story should be made into a movie.’ Oh, dear God, no!” Iman says, laughing. “It’s just so private. Also, it’s a family decision. It’s always a no. We always ask each other, ‘Would he do it?’ He wouldn’t. We want to honor his decision.”