Muslim supermodel Halima Aden has once again created history as she posed for Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She has gone on to be the first woman to wear a hijab and burkini for the swimsuit issue. The upcoming May issue of the magazine features the 21-year-old model, wearing a burkini and a hijab. This is especially a big change for the magazine that has always chosen bikini-clad models for its famous swimsuit issues, reports the New York Times.
Her Sports Illustrated shoot, photographed by Yu Tsai, took place at Kenya’s Watamu Beach.
Check out the picture here:
Halima who is Somali-American, grew up in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, before moving with her family to the US at the age of seven. Since then she has been creating records.
The gorgeous model in an interview revealed how much the photo shoot meant to her. She said, “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.”
As reported by CNN, Halima has many records one of them being, the first contestant in Miss Minnesota USA 2016, to wear a hijab and burkini, ultimately reaching the pageant’s semi-finals. In March, she was one of three black hijabi models featured on the cover of Vogue Arabia alongside Ikram Abdi Omar and Amina Adan. In April 2018, she broke new ground in British Vogue, as the first hijabi woman on the cover.
Also Read: Model Mara Martin causes a stir by breastfeeding while walking on the ramp