Model mom dresses for week

NEW YORK - Want something done? Give it to a busy woman. Give it to Iman.

She's the CEO of her own cosmetics company, a sought-after supermodel, a wife to David Bowie superstar and a mother. Whatever spare minutes she might have had six months ago have since been dedicated to developing her own collection of accessories for the Home Shopping Network.

"For me, it was not a challenge, it was part and parcel of the juggling act I call my life, just like so many women out there," says Iman.

Her line, which debuts this month, aims to evoke her famously eclectic global style.

Thanks to her extensive travels, she has collected everything from African bracelets to jade Chinese earrings. Many pieces in her new collection are inspired by items she has acquired over the years.

Accessories are the keys to stylish dressing, she says.

"It's all about how to pull it all together to make it look effortless -- which, of course, takes a lot of running around," she says, wearing a gray turtleneck, gray flannel trousers and a tweed jacket with gold cuff bracelets.

Even on the most hectic day, Iman, 52, tries to be stylish and feminine. "I want to play with the big boys but I want to look like a girl."

Given a hypothetical schedule for a week, here are the looks she says she'd put together -- several of which center on specific pieces she owns:

Iman favors the same gray-with-gold look she does for an interview, and would add some color with her shoes and bag, most likely purple or plum.

Mother to a 7-year-old daughter, Iman builds this outfit around the large tote bag that she'll need to carry for all the schoolwork and other papers she's sure to collect. Otherwise, she goes with a simple and easy look: Levi's jeans, a camel-colored sweater, and orange faux-ostrich ballet flats from Nine West. She might add a khaki safari jacket or a Chanel jacket, and tie an Hermes scarf around her neck.

"I'll still feel like a woman but I'm playing mom, so I'll do softer," she explains.

"You can't go wrong with a gold dress. It could be short or long, brocade or flashy," she says, noting that she leans toward vintage dresses. To complement the dress, she'd wear a group of amber-bead bracelets -- "You need more sparkle than one," she says -- and a wrap that's fur on one side and a rich brocade fabric on the other.

The wrap was custom-made 15 years ago when she was attending a lavish ball in Venice that had an Asian theme. John Galliano had created a Chinese column gown for her to wear but she needed some sort of covering, she says. She decided on faux fur for warmth and a bronze brocade to catch the light.

To make it dressier, she had bronze tassels attached to the corners, but she also wanted to get more use out of it than the one party, so she made the tassels detachable.

"I'm still wearing it," she says.

A version, available in black faux fur with gold jacquard or brown with copper, appears in her new collection for $79.95.

A short, tight leather jacket over a tank top that hits the hips and black jeans is casual yet stylish, exactly what Iman strives for when she's seeing the fashion crowd. She'd wear her knit-top cuff boots by Charlotte Ronson, which, she says, have a whiff of "Charlie's Angel's" sexiness, along with an oversized costume jewelry ring that's big and sparkly. "The key to wearing costume jewelry is never to wear it like it's real."

A black patent tote -- big and glossy -- finishes the outfit.

Iman reaches for camel-colored pants -- they're not so light that they'll show a smudge of dirt but not so dark as to seem dressy, she says -- along with a pashmina wrap when she travels. She carries real ballet slippers in her bag for the plane and is likely to wear ballet slipper-inspired shoes the rest of the way.

Amber bangle bracelets don't set off any alarms like metallic jewelry would.

She'd start with the giant round diamond ring from Fred Leighton that her husband gave to her in June for their 15th wedding anniversary. "He gives good jewelry," she said.

This ring is one of the pieces from her personal jewelry collection that she's redone -- at a more affordable price ($59.95) -- for HSN.

The ring pairs well with a red cocktail dress because it's flirty. "It never hurts to flirt with your husband," she says.

In her small evening bag, in either a cheetah or zebra faux fur, she'd stash a self-contained makeup kit with touchups for eyes, lips and cheeks, her mobile phone and breath mints. She doesn't need keys or a wallet: Bowie will carry that.

The outfit would be comfortable but not messy, Iman says. She likes jeans with crisp and clean white shirts, but she also would wear a splash of color. "I've never understood the all-black thing," she says, "although, in New York, gray and camel are colors."

The finale item is her eco-friendly, reusable Acme shopping tote. "It's so chic."