Muslim Model Halima Aden Quits Runway Shows
The Somali-American Muslim model, Halima Aden, has announced that she will be quitting runway shows to focus on her religious beliefs.
Halima Aden, the Muslim Somali-American model, gained her fame as the first contestant to wear hijab and burkini in the Miss Minnesota USA Pageant. Halima has announced that she is quitting the fashion industry, as it is making her compromise on her religious beliefs.
Fashion was NEVER for me. I am for the PEOPLE! I am for my IMAAN! I have WOKEN UP!!! https://t.co/kuzoZLfgZi
— Halima Aden (@Kinglimaa) November 25, 2020
Halima Aden posted multiple Instagram posts where she talks about the mental torture she’s been going through, trying to balance her identity and her beliefs as a practicing Muslim woman. “I can only blame myself for caring more about opportunity than what was actually at stake,” she wrote.
She blamed the industry for not being inclusive enough, she claimed that she is a minority within a minority and that the industry lacks Muslim women stylists who could appropriately style someone with similar beliefs as hers. Halima Aden further praised Rihanna for letting her appear in her hijab in the Fenty Beauty campaign.
“(Rihanna) let me wear the hijab I brought to set. This is the girl I’m returning to, the real Halima.” States Halima.
Previously, in an interview, Halima Aden mentioned feeling lost and at war with herself. “Fellow Muslim sisters would send me DMs and even publicly tag me at the start of my career to say ‘stop dressing like an old woman’… which made me feel like I was doing something wrong … I remember wanting to be the ‘hot hijabi’ as if that didn’t just defeat the whole purpose,” she wrote. “A hot mess is what it was truthfully.”
She further talked about how she conflicted with herself constantly, missing her obligatory prayers, and trying out new styles for brands when she didn’t even want to do that, to begin with. Halima looked back at her shoot for urban outfitters where instead of a headscarf she draped her hair with jeans- and reflected that it wasn’t even her style, she was never happy about that shoot and it made her extremely uncomfortable but she was too scared to speak up.
“But… this isn’t even my style?? Never was. Why did I allow them to put jeans on my head when at the time I had only ever worn skirts and long dresses?” says Halima Aden. “I went back to my hotel room & just sobbed after this shoot because deep down I knew this wasn’t it. But was too scared to speak up. The truth is I was very UNCOMFORTABLE. This just ain’t me.”
Moreover, Halima Aden made it clear that she will only continue modeling if her hijab is visible, and the shoot does not contradict her religious beliefs. Otherwise, she plans on focusing on herself as a Muslim and does not care about missing big opportunities if it conflicts with Islam. “If my hijab can’t be this visible, I’m not showing up, period. This is the standard moving forward if you want to work with me. Come correct or don’t come at all.”
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