Gigi Hadid extends support to Halima Aden after decision to quit runway shows

Supermodel Gigi Hadid threw her weight behind Somali, Muslim model Halima Aden after the latter announced to quit runway shows due to her compromising her religious beliefs.

Gigi, in an Instagram story, supported the model’s decision and said that it was important to "self-reflect" on one's journey while she praised Halima for stepping back for her own reasons.  

"Everyone should go check out @Halima's story right now. It is so important, as a hijabi or not, to self reflect and get back on track with what feels genuine to us. It's the only way to feel truly fulfilled," she wrote. 

"I learnt through therapy once that if we are assertive with our boundaries, it does not mean that we are ungrateful for opportunity, and it will lead to an end result that does not feel hollow, one where we do not feel take advantaged of. Learning that helped me so much. My sis Halima, you have inspired me since the day I met you and you continue to make me proud. Keep shining, big love."

In a lengthy series of Instagram stories, Halima became candid about her fashion journey and revealed that she regretted many major shoots that she is famed for. 

According to her, many of the shoots required her to cross her personal boundaries with donning the hijab and now she wants nothing to do with that anymore. 

"This wasn't "representation", this was mockery. I was too young and naive to see it back then," she admitted. 

"Thanks to Covid-19 and the break away from the industry, I have finally realized where I went wrong in my personal hijab journey. (Rihanna) let me wear the hijab I brought to set. This is the girl I’m returning to, the real Halima," she wrote, adding a picture of a campaign for Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, where she donned a black hijab that was covering her properly.

In another post, Aden revealed the struggles of being a "a minority within a minority" and said that the lack of facilities to cater Muslim models is what made her make rash choices. 

"What I do blame the industry for is the lack of Muslim women stylists." 

"Fellow Muslim sisters would send me DMs and even publicly tag me at the start of my career to say ‘stop dressing like an old woman’… which made me feel like I was doing something wrong … I remember wanting to be the ‘hot hijabi’ as if that didn’t just defeat the whole purpose. A hot mess is what it was truthfully," she wrote.