{"id":1569,"date":"2020-11-24T14:09:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T14:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=169522"},"modified":"2020-11-26T01:31:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T01:31:58","slug":"halima-aden-interview","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/halima-aden-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Halima Aden\u2019s Life Is Full Of Firsts. But Finally, She\u2019s Not The Only One Holding The Torch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Halima\"
Halima Aden is seen leaving the Etro fashion show on February 21, 2020 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jacopo Raule\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

After I posted a photo of myself and Halima Aden on social media, the model and activist quickly reshared it to her 1.1 million followers with love heart emojis plastered over the top. This acknowledgment by one of the biggest names in fashion is ridiculously cute, but not at all unexpected: Despite being one of the most in-demand models in the world right now, walking the biggest fashion shows and fronting the cover of the most prestigious magazines, Aden is kind, down to earth and just as chatty as the first time we met in Australia coming up to one year ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When sitting across from the famous 22-year-old briefly talking about when we first met \u2013 Aden was in Sydney as part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia and was coaching me into my move to London, where we are now \u2013 it\u2019s easy to forget the life she\u2019s had. Aden was born in the United Nations Kakuma camp in northwestern Kenya, where her mother took refuge after fleeing the Somali Civil War, walking 12 days on foot in 1994. They lived in a house made of mud, sticks and scraps in one of the \u201cmost difficult environments to raise a family.\u201d During her Ted Talk in June 2018, Aden said she would often get sick with malaria and it was common to not know where her next meal would come from or when it would be. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite all of this, Aden had a happy childhood, in part due to UNICEF, who she now works with as an ambassador, something she calls a real \u201cfull circle moment.\u201d Since her time in Kakuma, the camp has tripled in size, something Aden says is bittersweet: \u201cWhy do we still have refugee camps in 2020? But then, of course, they\u2019re so necessary because more families are escaping violence and finding safety in the camps.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think my life is a testament to the work that they\u2019re doing on the ground,\u201d Aden says of UNICEF. \u201cI was able to flourish. Despite it being a refugee camp, I can still say I had a good childhood because of their programs.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aden, her mother, and her brother were lucky to be one of the few families bound for resettlement in the USA, sent to St Louis, Missouri, where she found herself in yet another poverty-stricken area and at a school without an English immersion program. Aden\u2019s mother, who she dubs her \u201csuperhero,\u201d chose to relocate them to Minnesota where they found a Somali community and teachers who were prepared to go the extra mile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aden\u2019s start in the modeling industry came about by chance. She was nominated by her peers to become the school\u2019s homecoming queen: the first Muslim woman to ever hold the title. After becoming the first Somali student senator at her college, Aden was hooked on firsts. That, and the allure of scholarship money, led her to pageantry and in 2016, Aden became the first hijab-wearing woman in the Miss Minnesota USA beauty pageant.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though Aden didn\u2019t win the competition, she didn\u2019t need to. She was spotted by magazine editor Carine Roitfeld, who promptly gave the then-teenager her first magazine cover for <\/span>CR Fashion Book<\/span><\/i> with no modeling experience or even an agency behind her. \u201cTo be the first woman to wear a hijab and burkini and still be accepted into the pageant, that gave me the confidence to then walk into modelling and know that I can walk the runway and be on the cover shoot, while not conforming and remaining true to myself,\u201d she reflects. Remaining true to herself meant modeling with her braces and turning down the chance to be in Kanye West\u2019s Yeezy fashion show \u2013 her first-ever major fashion week gig \u2013 because the outfit they had cast her for was too revealing. Thankfully, Aden was called that evening with news they had found a different look that would work for her.<\/span><\/p>\n

IMG soon came knocking and Aden was quickly signed, becoming the global talent agency\u2019s first hijab-wearing model. As part of her contract, Aden has a pop-up tent in which to change backstage at shows. Aden quickly started making waves in the industry, which adapted, just as Yeezy did, to make her feel comfortable. A perfect example is when we bumped into each other recently, backstage at Tommy Hilfiger\u2019s TommyNOW show. While lining up to do a run-through, Aden showed me the beautiful custom headscarf the American designer had made especially for her to wear on the runway, exclaiming happily that this time she is one of three hijab-wearing models cast in the show: it\u2019s no longer just her holding the torch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aden says the Miss Minnesota beauty pageant is an example she always looks to in order to prove that change is happening. \u201cAs scary as it was for me to make that initial first step and do something that was untraditional and something that hadn\u2019t been done before,\u201d she says. Before jumping out of her interview voice to exclaim as if we\u2019re just two friends catching up \u2013 \u201cLike, that\u2019s scary, right?!\u201d \u2013 \u201cBut then to come back a year later and see seven girls wearing a hijab \u2013 just in the same state! \u2013 it tells me about girls want to be in these spaces. They want to enter and do these things, but they just need somebody to tell them that it\u2019s okay.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to challenge myself and the women in my life. If you don\u2019t see yourself represented in any space, pull up a chair and then invite your friends, invite your sisters, invite other women.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aden noticed the divide between women and men at a younger age than most. \u201cWomen don\u2019t have the right to much in a refugee camp,\u201d she explains. \u201cThat was really difficult.\u201d Her mind was opened when she moved to America and saw women being able to do so much more. \u201cI\u2019ve since gotten to see women run for office, run to be the president. They\u2019re CEOs, they\u2019re running Fortune 500 companies. It\u2019s just been so inspiring. But I hope that same opportunity is awarded to women all over the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Aden\u2019s biggest \u2018pinch me\u2019 moments came when she was asked to be on the cover of <\/span>British Vogue<\/span><\/i> \u2013 another first: the first hijab-wearing model in the magazine\u2019s then-102-year history \u2013 where she met Australia\u2019s Adut Akech and found out that Akech, who grew up in Adelaide from age five, was born in the exact same refugee camp as she. \u201cThat out was so wild!\u201d she laughs when I bring up the coincidence. \u201cFor me to be the first hijab-wearing cover girl, that was like mind-boggling. But actually finding out that Adut and I were born in the same camp \u2013 around the same age, in the same zone! \u2013 We\u2019re two young girls, leaving that world behind.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She pauses. \u201cThose stories are so rare, you don\u2019t hear girls saying, \u2018I came from a refugee camp and I\u2019m on the cover of <\/span>British Vogue.<\/span><\/i>\u2019<\/span> That just doesn\u2019t happen. So the fact that it was two of us, it still is one of those moments where it gives me so much hope. Yeah, Kakuma babies are resilient,\u201d she says. \u201cAdut and I were both given so much opportunity to leave that world behind. We\u2019ve had so many people in our lives help us, so it just shows you like when we give our kids what they need, they can grow, they can flourish, they can become success stories.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9593,"featured_media":7352,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[17,16],"yoast_head":"\nHalima Aden Interview: The Hijab-Wearing Muslim Model On Breaking Barriers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Groundbreaking Muslim model Halima Aden opens up about being the first hijab-wearing model to grace the international runways and front magazine covers. 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