Halima Aden Just Became Sports Illustrated’s First Hijabi Rookie

Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue is known for its sultry models and barely-there bikinis, but this year’s edition is set to make history. Halima Aden, the 21-year-old Somali-American beauty, has just become the first model to wear a hijab and burkini within SI’s pages, shattering expectations.

For the editorial shot by photographer Yu Tsai, Aden traveled to Kenya where she lived before relocating to the U.S. at the age of 7. In the accompanying interview, the model opens up about her childhood in Kakuma, a settlement in the northwest of the country where hundreds and thousands of displaced peoples have sort refuge over the years. “I keep thinking [back] to six-year-old me who, in this same country, was in a refugee camp,” she told the publication. “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.”

At 19, Aden became the first hijab-wearing high fashion model on the runways, breaking boundaries for Muslim women. She has used her platform to address real world issues, including Islamophobia, ever since. Naturally, her SI shoot is no different. Posing in a burkini on Watamu Beach, she takes a modest piece still steeped in controversy - several French cities, including Cannes and Nice, banned burkinis in 2016, prompting a public outcry - and brings it into a forum where body paint and string bikinis are the norm.

For models, the cover of Sports Illustrated is undoubtedly a star-making proposition. The publication has a reputation for catapulting fashion careers towards global success, and helped transform the likes of Christy Brinkley, Tyra Banks, and Kate Upton into household names. In the past, that kind of exposure was only granted to those women who conformed to narrow beauty standards - namely tan, blonde, and toned - but in recent years, that has changed.

Under the direction of senior editor MJ Day, the look of the swimsuit issue has evolved significantly. Day, who took on the role in 2014, has pushed for a more inclusive approach at the magazine, opening the door for plus-size models, female photographers, and now its first hijabi and burkini-wearing Muslim star. Just as Ashley Graham set the stage for body-positivity in the swimwear industry when she was photographed for SI in 2016, Aden’s appearance in the magazine is poised to have a ripple effect.