SHE MADE HISTORY
AS THE WORLD’S FIRST
HIJAB-WEARING
SUPERMODEL. WHILE IN
SYDNEY, ADEN SPOKE TO
ELLE ABOUT THE FUTURE
OF DIVERSITY“THE PAST SIX MONTHS have been
crazy. I’ve been on a plane every other
day, and in the past six weeks, I’ve been
home for a total of 24 hours. UOMA
cosmetics, my first makeup contract,
launched and then my first fashion
collaboration with Modanisa dropped.
I went from being the first hijabi model to
creating a line of turbans and hijabs,
which was exciting. Then my Sport’s
Illustrated shoot landed.
The Sport’s Illustrated story was huge
for me. It had a great response but, as
with anything, there was still the fear of the
unknown. The burkini was what launched
my career two and a half years ago when
I competed for Miss Minnesota USA, so
to be the first model to shoot for SI in
a burkini was a full-circle moment. What
I loved about being in that issue was the
calibre of women involved. Women who
are mothers and supermodels, women
who went from models to moguls — it
gives me chills because I’m somebody
who loves women; I’m a fangirl!
When I found out about modelling,
I watched America’s Next Top Model.
Then I met Tyra Banks and I told her, ‘Girl,
I’m still waiting for my snake scene.’
Before I signed with IMG, we had
a four-hour long conversation, which was
all about me and my agents coming to
a clear understanding about what I was
comfortable with. We put together a list
that they now send to the team before
every single shoot. It’s things like: This is
where the hemline needs to hit, and the
clothes can’t be too tight. We also include
examples of what I could wear, so by the
time you show up on set the team have had
time to really work around it. Because we
set that up early, I’ve never been put in any
[difficult] situations. In fact, it’s the opposite
— they’re like, ‘Is this okay? Can you show
feet?’ It shows the level of respect.
[French fashion editor] Carine Roitfeld
has played a pivotal role in my career.
She shot me for CR Fashion Book, whichDespite a seemingly relentless number of
setbacks, in 2019 the future for women
has never looked so bright. To celebrate
this, we turned to two pioneering voices
pushing forward the conversation about
activism and fashion. Somali-American
model Halima Aden is breaking
boundaries on a near-weekly basis at the
tender age of 21, and 78-year-old Robin
Morgan, the prolific writer and activist
(a contemporary of Gloria Steinem’s), is
having an unexpected fashion renaissance
courtesy of Christian Dior. Here, they
share their stories.WHERE
TO
NEXT
TWO GAME-CHANGING
WOMEN FROM
DIFFERENT GENERATIONS,
CONTINENTS AND
BACKGROUNDS SHARE
WHAT THE FUTURE
OF FASHION LOOKS
LIKE TO THEM
HALIMA
ADEN