The Muslim model ends her career and is satisfied with the fashion industry

The Muslim model ends her career and is satisfied with the fashion industry

Oliver Marquart / watson.de

Halima Aden has had enough. The US model is ditching her career. No more runways and fashion shows, that’s for sure for the 23-year-old.

The background of their decision is their religious faith. Aden is Muslim and wears a hijab. He accuses the fashion industry of repeatedly putting her under pressure to deny her religion.

She posted a number of Instagram stories describing the hardships she encountered in the “toxic mess called fashion”. He talks about how he skipped prayers, wore clothes he was uncomfortable in, and had to design his hijab in a way he perceived as a betrayal of his values.

“Bad Energy”

But he doesn’t want to do it anymore. “You could call me tomorrow and I would never risk compromising my hijab again for even $ 10 million,” he wrote. She also vowed never to attend fashion shows or travel to fashion festivals again, adding this “This is where all the bad energy comes from.”

Aden is from Somalia and was living in a Kenyan refugee camp before coming to the United States. She arrived in the United States at the age of six and was discovered at the age of 18 in a beauty pageant where she was wearing a hijab. In her modeling career, she had crossed numerous boundaries. Among other things, she was the first woman to wear a hijab to appear on the cover of British Vogue.

Lost sight of beliefs

The excitement of being called a pioneer caused her to lose sight of her beliefs, she said. Her mother advised her to quit for a long time – but only the crown pandemic gave her time to think. It became clear to her what she had done wrong.

Specifically, she called a photo shoot for her first denim hijab. “Because I allowed them to put jeans on my head even though I was only wearing skirts and long dresses at the time,” she wrote, answering her question herself:

She mentioned another photo shoot where she can be seen wearing a green sash under the hijab and feathers around her neck. “I went back to my hotel room and sobbed after this shoot because I knew deep down it wasn’t. But I was too afraid to say anything. “

Eventually, she made it clear that she wasn’t turning her back on fashion as a whole. He simply no longer wants to work in conditions he is not comfortable with.