Halima Aden Leaves Runway
Halima Aden, the Somali-American refugee who has worked on various campaigns such as Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Kanye West’s Yeezy, is widely known as the world's first hijab-wearing supermodel. The 23 year old who was born to Somali parents in a Kenyan refugee camp, has graced the covers of British Vogue, Vogue Arabia, and Allure.
With an explanation regarding her decision in an Instagram story post, Aden has given detailed examples of instances where she felt like she had lost touch with her religious belief. Some include missing prayers because of her busy work schedule, and having her head wrapped in jeans to replace the head covering she is required to wear. Halima wrote “I can only blame myself for caring more about opportunity than what was actually at stake”. In another post Halima added “My mom asked me to quit modeling a LONG time ago, I wish I wasn’t so defensive. Thanks to covid and the breakaway from the industry I have finally realized where I went wrong on my hijab journey.
Making a third post Halima suggested that her desire to witness more Muslim women enter the fashion industry clouded her judgement. In a statement she said “I was just so desperate back then for any representation, that I lost touch with who I was”. Using Rihanna's Fenty Beauty brand as an example Aden pointed out that the brand was one of the very few which allowed her to bring a hijab of her choice to set. But this is not her final goodbye the model also pointed out that moving forward with her career she will be setting conditions for future work. Some restrictions mentioned in her post included “if my hijab can’t be this visible I’m not showing up”. Following her announcement fellow catwalk stars such as Naomi Campbell and Bella Hadid and many more showed their support with messages in response to the news Aden delivered on social media.
Moving to the U.S with her family at just seven years old and settling I St Louis Missouri, Aden made her modeling debut at just 19 years old at New York fashion the 2017 edition, and in 2019 became the first model to wear a hijab and Birkin in sports illustrated swimsuit. Since 2018 she has been the UNICEF ambassador focusing on children’s rights.
Though this is not a complete departure, a lesson definitely thought is we must not become blinded by our passion that it causes other worlds within our lives to come to a halt but even if it does we can always find our way back.
By Nathalia Lampkin