Model wears hijab, burkini in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue
Halima Aden attends House Of Uoma presents the launch of Uoma Beauty - The World's First "Afropolitan" Makeup Brand at NeueHouse Hollywood on April 25, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - A model has become the first woman to be featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue wearing a hijab and burkini.
Somali-American Halima Aden, 21, made her debut in the 2019 Swimsuit issue.
She was photographed at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya where she spent the first seven years of her life before arriving in the United States.
“I keep thinking [back] to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp,” Halima said to SI. "So to grow up to live the American dream [and] to come back to Kenya and shoot for SI in the most beautiful parts of Kenya–I don’t think that’s a story that anybody could make up.”
Aden was the first woman to wear a hijab in during the Miss Minnesota USA pageant.
“We believe beauty knows no boundaries,” said SI Swimsuit editor MJ Day.
The issue hits newstands on May 8.