Somali-American teen wears hijab at Kanye West's Yeezy NYFW show
Somali-American model Halima Aden might not be a household name. But, Aden was the name on everyone's lips after Kanye West's Yeezy Season 5 show at New York Fashion Week. Adem walked the runway wearing her hijab; a sight that is -- even in 2017 -- still something of a rarity.
The model -- who was born in a refugee camp in Kenya -- made history in November 2016 when she wore a burkini and a hijab when participating in the semifinal of the Miss Minnesota USA pageant.
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Despite not making it to the final of the show, Aden was recently signed by model agency IMG and made her catwalk debut on the Yeezy runway on 15 Feb.
"Everyone has been so welcoming and accepting," Aden told Vogue after the show.
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"My goal is to send a message to Muslim women and young women everywhere that it’s okay to break stereotypes and be yourself," she said.
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"Always stay true to who you are—barriers can and will be broken!"
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
