21-Year-old Becomes First Model To Wear Hijab and Burkini For A Photo Shoot

The annual swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated Magazine will be a historic one, all thanks to a Somali-American model Halima Aden. Halima created history when she became the first model to wear a hijab and burkini for a magazine shoot.

Halima Aden makes history as the first model to wear a hijab and burkini for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: https://t.co/8WFD4hHmiH. pic.twitter.com/OsBthnjoLY

— Sports Illustrated Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) April 29, 2019

The 21-year-old model talked about how important this photo shoot was for her. She said to the Sports Illustrated, “Growing up in the States, I never felt represented, because I could never flip through a magazine and see a girl who was wearing a hijab,”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw3Vod9h8NZ/?utm_source=ig_embed

Born in Kenya, Halima Aden lived in a refugee camp and moved to Minnesota when she was 7-years-old. Back in 2016, she created history by becoming the first participant to wear hijab at the Miss Minnesota USA pageant.

She further told the magazine, “I keep thinking back to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp, 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.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2Bd2kh81a/?utm_source=ig_embed

While appearing on Good Morning America, she had said, “Sports Illustrated is proving that a girl that’s wearing a bikini could be right alongside a girl that’s wearing a burkini. And as women we can come alongside each other and be each other’s biggest cheerleaders.”

Kudos to her!