From
refugee camp to runway, hijab-wearing model breaks
barriers
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[September 12, 2017]
By Elly Park
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Roughly one year ago, Denise Wallace, executive
co-director of the Miss Minnesota USA pageant, received
a phone call from 19-year-old Halima Aden asking if she
could compete in the contest wearing her hijab.
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"Her photo popped up and I remember distinctly
going, 'Wow, she is beautiful,'" Wallace said.
The Somali-American teen made headlines as the first hijab- and
burkini-sporting contestant in the history of the pageant. The
bold move catapulted her career to new heights involving many
"firsts," including being the first hijabi signed by a major
modeling agency.
"I wear the hijab everyday," Aden, who was in New York for
Fashion Week, told Reuters.
The hijab - one of the most visible signs of Islamic culture -
is going mainstream, with advertisers, media giants and fashion
firms promoting images of the traditional headscarf in ever more
ways.
Nike Inc announced it is using its prowess in the sports and
leisure market to launch a breathable mesh hijab in spring 2018,
becoming the first major sports apparel maker to offer a
traditional Islamic head scarf designed for competition. Teen
apparel maker American Eagle Outfitters Inc created a denim
hijab with Aden as its main model. The youthful headscarf sold
out in less than a week online.
Allure magazine's editor-in-chief, Michelle Lee, is also in the
mix, describing Aden as a "normal American teenage girl” on the
front cover of the magazine's July issue.
"She is someone who is so amazingly representative of who we are
as America, as a melting pot it totally made sense for us," Lee
said.
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Aden, born in Kakuma, a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya, came
to the United States at age 7 with her family, initially settling in
St. Louis.
She fondly recalled her time at the refugee camp saying, "Different
people, different refugees from all over Africa came together in
Kakuma. Yet we still found a common ground."
In America, she was an A-student and homecoming queen. Now, her
ultimate goal is to become a role model for American Muslim youth.
"I am doing me and I have no reason to think that other people are
against me,” Aden said. “So I just guess I'm oblivious.”
Aden said she is content being a champion for diversity in the
modeling industry, but in the future she hopes to return to Kakuma
to work with refugee children.
(Reporting by Elly Park; Writing by Yahaira Jacquez; Editing by
Leslie Adler)
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