Halima Aden Explains Why Her Gorgeous New Head Scarf Collection Isn't Just for Hijabis

Allure

On the evening I catch model Halima Aden for a chat, she's just landed in New York City from Istanbul, and she's still raving about British Airways' in-flight amenities kit: "They had a moisturizer, a face wipe, a mist, an undereye cream, a lip balm...everything," she tells me with a huge smile. At 21 years old, Aden has posed for magazine covers, walked down international runways, broken barriers for her fellow hijabi models and women (check the latest Sports Illustrated issue), and been named a UNICEF ambassador. If her excitement about complementary face mist is contagious — and it is — just imagine what that bright, kinetic energy can do when she's working to inspire a group of young women. Which is something she does quite often.

When Aden brought home her first Vogue Arabia cover, her mom's response was: "Oh, OK. Don't forget to wash the dishes." It wasn't until she appeared on the cover of CR Fashion Book in a UNICEF shirt that her family got truly excited. "See? Fashion and activism go hand in hand," she tells me.

All of Aden's career choices thus far have stemmed from that belief, which is how she recently found herself atop a tree in the Philippines, learning to harvest a coconut.

<h1 class="title">Halima Aden</h1><cite class="credit">Courtesy of brand</cite>

Halima Aden

Courtesy of brand

Alternately laughing and tearing up, she describes her new partnership with Vita Coco. The beverage company hired Aden to lend some publicity to the giveback initiatives it’s long been pursuing under the radar in the countries where they source their coconuts. To prove it, the brand whisked Aden away to Filipino homes, coconut farms, and schools it’s helped build, where she made sure to teach the students how to strut down a runway.

"As a consumer, I like to know about the brands that I support,” she says. “When it comes time to decide if I want to stay loyal to a brand, I look at what they do for the communities and what they do for the environment.”

Aden isn't just a model consumer — she's carried that mission into her new head scarf collection with modest fashion platform Modanisa. The collection includes 47 head scarves and turbans, designed in bright jewel tones, festive prints, and everyday nudes, all pre-tied with no pins required; a boon of a design feature that she decided on after attempting to explain how to tie a scarf over Instagram DM.

"Girls are always messaging me asking how I get a specific turban look, and it’s incredibly hard to explain," she says. "It’s just inconvenient, so I wanted to make the turbans as easy and simple as I could. These are pre-tied; you take it, fluff it out, put it on, and you’re done in 20 seconds, max."

<h1 class="title">Halima Aden</h1><cite class="credit">Courtesy of brand</cite>

Halima Aden

Courtesy of brand

As a style enthusiast and a hijabi, she created pieces for every possible fashion situation. "I designed this so I could have something I could wear for a red-carpet event — something more formal, something more elegant, but also something casual,” she say. “I have pieces in my turban collection that you can wear to the gym."

The line is also designed to avoid the turban and hijab "mistakes" that Aden says she's dealt with since she started wearing one at age eight. They're tied to avoid any hair peeking out or spontaneous unwrapping.

Still, she insists that the collection isn't just for hijabis. "I put thought into having a piece for any woman,” she says. “This collection is open to all. You should wear a turban to the beach."

Even in the business model, Aden hasn't lost sight of her values. She tells me that 88 percent of Modanisa's designers are women, two of whom hand-stitched and hand-designed her collection. "It was really special for me to support and celebrate those women and their work," she says.

The through line in these projects is both Aden's mission-driven approach and the joy with which she carries it out. As a young woman who is shouldering many firsts in her industry, Aden is a ready-made role model — and it seems that's her favorite gig of all.

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Now, watch Halima Aden show young Muslim girls how to model:

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