Halima Aden Becomes First Model To Wear Hijab And Burkini In Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Muslim supermodel Halima Aden has been making history left and right over the past few years, and today she did it again by becoming the first model to wear a hijab and burkini in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

In a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot photographed by Yu Tsai at Kenya’s Watamu Beach, Aden said, “Growing up in the United States, I never really felt represented because I never could flip through a magazine and see a girl who was wearing a hijab. Don’t be afraid to be the first.”

Aden, who is Somali-American, grew up in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp before moving to the US with her family at the age of seven. “I keep thinking (back) to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp,” Aden told the magazine. “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.”

Aden’s historical timeline dates back to 2016 when she became the first contestant in Miss Minnesota USA to wear a hijab and burkini, reaching the pageant’s semi-finals. In April 2018, she became the first hijabi woman on the cover of British Vogue.

In March, Aden was one of three black hijabi models featured on the cover of Vogue Arabia’s first group hijabi cover, alongside Ikram Abdi Omar and Amina Adan. 

Congratulations to Halima Aden!