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HomeFashionModel Halima Aden quits runway citing pressure to 'compromise' religion

Model Halima Aden quits runway citing pressure to ‘compromise’ religion

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Daily US Times: Muslim model Halima Aden has announced Wednesday that she is stepping back from fashion and quitting runway shows entirely after feeling pressured to compromise her religious beliefs.

In a series of Instagram Stories, Aden, the first model to wear a burkini and hijab in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, described the difficulties she has faced in the “toxic mess called fashion.”

In the posts, she recounted wearing clothes she wasn’t comfortable in, skipping prayers and styling her hijab in ways she felt betrayed her values.

She wrote: “They could call me tomorrow and not even for $10 million would I ever risk compromising my hijab ever again”.

Halima Aden also pledged to never travel for fashion months or take part in runway shows again, adding that “that’s where all the bad energy came from.”

Aden lived in a Kenyan refugee camp before moving to the US. In her modeling career, she has broken numerous boundaries.

She was part of Vogue Arabia’s first group hijabi cover and the first hijab-wearing woman to appear on the cover of British Vogue.

But she said, her work and the excitement of being labeled a trailblazer, caused her to lose sight of her beliefs.

Aden’s mother had long encouraged her to walk away — but it wasn’t until the coronavirus pandemic, which, according to Aden, prompted the model to stay home and take a break from the industry, that she “finally realized where I went wrong.”

You may read: Rihanna apologises for Islamic verse at lingerie show

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