September 2014|Harper’s BAZAAR| 153n February 2012, when Harper’s Bazaar fi rst spoke to Hind
Sahli, the Moroccan ingénue was one of the modelling
industry’s most intriguing new names – all mocha-hued
skin, voluptuous rose-bud lips, lissome body and sanguine
spirit. A fl edgling in the fashion world aged 21, she had
arrived in New York from Casablanca by way of Paris in 2011 and had
already walked for the likes of Marc Jacobs and Kenzo. Over the last two
years Hind has brushed up on her fashion knowledge, sharpened her
linguistic skills, added Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang, Phillip Lim and
Louis Vuitton to her runway repertoire, and can cite campaigns for Estée
Lauder and Miu Miu.
Growing up in Morocco, a country that back then only had one
modelling agency, S&G, this is quite an achievement. Not only was
Hind a regular school girl harbouring ambition for greater things outside
the confi nements of Casablanca, she was also an Arab girl from a deeply
religious family for whom her aspirations of being both an international
model and ‘good Muslim’ were cause for concern. While her father,
a policeman, begrudgingly supported her dream, it was her mother who
quietly voiced her fears. To Hind’s mother, who wears a hijab and doesn’t
work, religion is everything and the unknown is terrifying. “She’s very
religious but very tolerant and nice to everybody. She’s never been to
New York [where Hind now lives], so she thinks modelling is all about
drugs and crazy stuff. But she will let me model because I’m her daughter
and as long as I’m happy, she will be too. Although she never says it
I know she’s proud of me, seeing her daughter on the cover of
a magazine... But I also know she’d love it if I would go and live back
home – and pray more!” she laughs.
Hind believes that the Arab Spring of late 2010 is slowly but surely
giving young Arab women like herself the opportunity and aspiration to
push societal boundaries and question cultural restrictions. “I don’t
think that [the Arab Spring] is necessarily doing anything right now,
because it’s impossible to change everything from one day to the other,
but it’s at least a step. If you don’t stand up for what you believe at some
point, you’re not going to make it to the other level. I don’t think it’s
now that the women are able to do more things, but I think for theI
future it will happen. It’s an important step.”
That step, for Hind, is about educating the world that being a model
and a Muslim doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive – despite protestations
from occasional social media ‘haters’. “Mostly people on Facebook send
me messages of support but every now and then, crazy people send scary
messages, or say that they’re not happy having an Arab model. But other
than that, especially in Morocco, people are proud to know that there’s
a Moroccan out there doing something different, because we don’t have
many of our own people doing something internationally.”
Hind, now 23, spent the fi rst few years living away from home signing
on to DNA and Elite model agencies and learning her craft. “I’ve always
wanted to be a model since I was a kid. I used to wear high heels with
my mum and pretend to walk like a model, but truthfully... when
I started walking for shows, I had no idea what was going on! I didn’t
know many designers and everything went super-fast. I was learning
step-by-step. I had so many shows that fi rst season [in 2011] but I didn’t
even know how to walk back then and I was super-shy. I was just happy
to be there – for most girls, modelling is a dream come true.”
Wisely, she did “a lot of research. Every time the agency sent me
something I used to Google it and see who the designer was. There are
so many American designers so it was hard to know them all. Now
I think, ‘how did I not know them?’ I was walking for these amazing
names, and not understanding how well I was doing.”
Part of Hind’s charm is this doe-eyed purity and innocence that comes
from someone who’s been somewhat sheltered from Western conformity
and ideals. But with it also comes a raw appetite to succeed, to put
Morocco on the map and to be an ambassador for Muslim girls around
the world. “I love the idea of being a role model for my country or any
other Middle Eastern country. Everything is possible, and I’m proof of
that. Before I didn’t know that I could be a model but somehow I tried
and made it. You have to work at it. Just because I’m a Muslim girl, does
it mean that I can’t also be a model? No. The truth is, we don’t talk about
other religions when it comes to modelling, so why does being a Muslim
have to be a ‘thing’?”
Hind is aware that while her background gives occasional cause for“JUST BECAUSE I’M A MUSLIM GIR L, DOES IT MEAN THAT I CAN’T
ALSO BE A MODEL? NO”
Hind Sahli
Dress, Dhs13,300;
bracelets, Dhs6,150
each, both Gucci