The normal ‘rules’ don’t seem to apply to this 19-year old Somali-American Halima Aden. It’s not even been a year since she made headlines for participating in the Miss Minnesota beauty pageant wearing a hijab. In February, she then signed up with IMG as a model and debuted at New York Fashion Week for Kanye West, before headlining at the Modanisa Modest London Fashion Week in April. Now she has made her Vogue debut as the June cover girl for the Arabian version.
Proudly proclaiming “All Eyes on Halima”, the cover also features the tagline “the runway star shattering stereotypes.”
We exclusively spoke to the inspirational role model during the Modanisa London Modest Fashion Week where she described the lack of visible role models that “looked like her” when she was growing up. This issue obviously means a lot to her as in a behind the scenes promo for her appearance in the magazine, she said: “Every little girl deserves to see a role model that’s dressed like her, resembles her or even has the same characteristics as her”. “I think beauty is for everyone and I think everyone can look beautiful, you just have to be confident.”
She comments in the magazine; “When I’m walking the runway I want people to see that, yes, I’m wearing a hijab – but I’m also a million other things. I want us to get to a place where we just see women.”
We’re looking forward to seeing what ceiling she will smash through next!
Image credits: Greg Kadel for Vogue Arabia
