Halima Aden on How the Fashion Industry Is Becoming More Inclusive
By Zoë Weiner. Photos: Getty Images, Sølve Sundsbø.
The fashion industry still has a long way to go toward inclusivity, but one of the people helping pave the way is Halima Aden. The hijab-wearing model just made her fashion month debut this past winter on the runways for fall 2017, but she did so like a total veteran. After famously winning the Miss Minnesota USA pageant wearing a hijab and burkini, she became the first ever woman to walk in a New York Fashion Week show wearing a hijab at the Yeezy Season 5 show, and at Max Mara and Alberta Ferretti in Milan. Not to mention, in early 2017 she landed her first big ad campaign with London- and Dubai-based e-commerce brand The Modist, which specializes in luxury conservative clothing and modest wear. Now she’s breaking another boundary as the first-ever hijab-wearing woman to appear on the cover of Allure.
In a video from the photo shoot for Allure’s American Beauty July issue, Halima opens up about her journey and how she’s seen the industry change along the way. In between teaching other Muslim women how to strike a pose at “Halima’s School of Modeling,” Halima shares her thoughts on the current state of fashion. “Now the industry is celebrating women across the board, from all different regions, all different backgrounds, all different walks of life,” she says. “That’s something we need to celebrate.”
Halima has already become an icon for all walks of life, as she explains in the video clip. “I don’t just want to support only Muslim women,” she says. “I want to inspire women across the board, and I’m hoping they won’t allow things to get in the way.” Another aspect of her day job that Halima loves, she explains, is having the chance to connect with so many different kinds of people. “My favorite part of modeling is backstage,” Halima says in the clip. “Every day you work with different people. And as much as people learn my story, I get to learn about theirs.”
Read Halima Aden’s Allure cover story here, and look for the issue to hit newsstands June 27.
This story originally appeared on Teen Vogue.
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