Halima Aden, 23, is a Somali-American fashion model. Known widely for her ‘firsts’, Aden is hailed as a trailblazer for being one of the first models to wear a hijab and walk for major fashion labels including Kanye West’s Yeezy. Model Halima Aden has said she is quitting runway shows because working in fashion has forced her to compromise her religious beliefs.
Halima Aden at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party in California. Photograph: David Crotty/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
In November 2020, the model took to a series of Instagram stories stating that she was quitting the fashion industry. “I was just so desperate back then for any ‘representation,’ that I lost touch with who I was,’’ she wrote on one post, and on another, wearing a crystal-encrusted headscarf, she said “I should have walked off the set because clearly the stylist didn’t have a hijab wearing woman in mind.”
“I can only blame myself for caring more about opportunity than what was actually at stake,”
she wrote on Instagram Stories
The model shared a post of herself in a campaign for Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, writing:
“(Rihanna) let me wear the hijab I brought to set. This is the girl I’m returning to, the real Halima.”
In a detailed Instagram story, Aden also mentioned that she was “not rushing back to the fashion industry” and that she had finally heard her mother’s pleas “to open my eyes.”
“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.’’
the 23-year-old model wrote.
Aden shot to fame in 2016 following her turn in the Miss USA beauty pageant, when she caught the eye of the fashion editor Carine Roitfeld. She soon signed to the global modelling agency IMG and made her runway debut at New York fashion week.
Eighteen months ago, Halima set conversations about modesty and fashion alight with both critics and supporters when she became the first headscarf-wearing model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.
"Remember, I had no one before me paving the way so mistakes are part of the learning experience. I did good, but that isn't enough. We gotta have these conversations in order to change the system truly."
Aden told her followers.
Halima serves as an inspiration for today's women. She is an epitome of 'breaking boundaries while staying true to one's roots'.
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