*Somali-American model Halima Aden has become the first Muslim woman to appear in Sports Illustrated magazine wearing a hijab and burkini.
For the swimsuit edition, out in May, Aden rocks several different colorful burkinis, as part of the publication’s “rookie” class for 2019.
The model told the BBC: “Young girls who wear a hijab should have women they look up to in any and every industry. We are now seeing politicians, business women, television reporters, and other successful hijabi women in visible roles and that is the message we need to be sending. The response has been incredible and I’m so honoured that Sports Illustrated has taken the step to showcase the beauty that modestly dressed women possess.”
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The SI photoshoot was held on Watamu Beach on the Kenyan coast with fashion photographer Yu Tsai.
“I keep thinking [back] to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp,” said 21-year-old Aden. “So to grow up to live the American dream [and] to come back to Kenya and shoot for SI in the most beautiful parts of Kenya – I don’t think that’s a story that anybody could make up.”
In 2016, Aden was the first contestant to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota pageant, Yahoo reports, and the following year, she signed to a major modelling agency, IMG Models.
She was also the first hijab-wearing model featured on the cover of British Vogue.
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“We believe beauty knows no boundaries,” says SI Swimsuit editor MJ Day.
“I admire Halima, and I consider her an inspirational human for what she has decided to use her platform for and her work with Unicef as an ambassador.
“She is, in my opinion, one of the great beauties of our time, not only outside but inside. When we met, I was instantaneously taken by her intelligence, enthusiasm and authenticity.”
Aden’s Sports Illustrated issue hits newsstands on April 30, and it’s timed with the launch of her new headwear collection collaboration with Modanisa, the report states.