It was 2004, and she was 7, when little Halima Aden first moved to the United States of America. Then she studied in an elementary school with an incredible teacher of hers, Mrs. Sautner, albeit she had to deal with lots of white kids bullying her for the hijab she wore. Adapting to her new life is absolutely tough, until she became the first contestant to wear hijab at the Miss Minnesota USA pageant in 2016. Her life changed since then.

Recently, she announced that she is leaving fashion industry. It is due to the style demand indirectly persuading her to break her religious boundaries which made her always feel uncomfortable. Her mother had long discouraging her to go on with her career, and now she just realized that her mother was right. She said, "I was just so desperate back then for any 'representation' that I lost touch with who I was."

Along with the announcement, she posted on her Instagram account some of the photoshoot she has done back then. One of the photo was the one when she wore her hijab around her face, completely covering her neck. Towards it, she wrote the caption, "This is the girl I’m returning to. The real HALIMA," ended with the red heart emoticon. Another post showing a photo of her wearing green wrap under her hijab and feathers around her neck. She wrote, "I went back to my hotel room and just sobbed after this shoot because deep down I knew this wasn't it. But was too scared to speak up." Some of other old photos also put her under pressure, since it is kind of asking her to compromise with her faith. One of them is a photo shoot, which the hijab is being styled in some ways it did not cover her chest. "These photo shoots were essentially erasing my hijab completely," she said.

Nevertheless, she did not completely walked away from the industry. She just wanted it to 'be correct, of if it cannot be that, don't come at all'. Just like a photo shoot she has done with Vogue Arabia, if they can compromise her faith and the sessions are carried out respectfully, she would surely do that. In her post as well, she also stated that it is not easy becoming the pioneer in a field commonly comes with certain characteristics. That is why, this kind of experience bringing her epiphany is truly important and meaningful to her.

This decision of Aden has brought a great deal of nice comments from her fans, as well as supports and praises from celebrities like Rihanna, Gigi Hadid, and a supermodel Naomi Campbell. "Proud of you for staying true to your integrity. You are true light and joy since knowing you. And I hope our paths will cross in another capacity, keep rising and shining," Campbell commented on Aden's latest Instagram post. Gigi Hadid whose mother is Dutch and father is Palestinian also stated that she is proud of Aden for speaking out on her regrets in order to get back on track with what feels genuine to her.

Source : < href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/halima-aden-hijab-quits-intl-hnk-scli/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/halima-aden-hijab-quits-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

Source : https://www.pinkvilla.com/fashion/celebrity-style/world-s-first-muslim-hijabi-model-halima-aden-takes-step-back-fashion-industry-579198

Source : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8987199/Gigi-Hadid-supports-Somali-model-Halima-Aden-admits-regrets-hijab-journey.html