Model Halima Aden Defies Beauty Standards

Taking steps in the right direction!

The 19-year-old Halima Aden made history as the first hajib-wearing model to be featured on the cover of Allure!

This is definitely not the first time Halima broke down barriers! In November 2016, she became the first Miss Minnesota to compete wearing a hijab and burkini. Halima has also strutted down the Yeezy season 5 runway at New York Fashion Week and was the first hijab-wearing woman on the cover of Vogue!

For her Allure shoot for the July issue, she wore Nike’s new performance hijab. The cover is also perfectly captioned with “This Is American Beauty!”

Halima, who moved from a Kenyan refugee camp to the United States with her mother when she was just 7 years old, told Allure “I feel like I’m here to bust stereoytypes for Muslim women!” She also said that “society puts so much pressure on girls to look a certain way. I have much more to offer than my physical appearance, and a hijab protects me against ‘you’re too skinny,’ ‘you’re too thick,’ ‘look at her hips,’ ‘look at her thigh gap.’”

Fashion still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity and defying beauty standards, yet Halima Aden is encouraging you to define beauty by just being yourself!

Photo: Instagram/ @allure
Instagram: @kinglimaa/ @allure
Twitter: @Allure_magazine