Picture this, Monday 19th February, London the Strand,  during lunchtime, mediocre London weather, we entered the black rimmed doors leading us into London Fashion Week, stepping into a dark red-lit room, with a steel spiral staircase, there stood, a petite, elegant, silhouette, as she fixed the ruffles in her skirt, I called out “Halima!” She peered back at us with a refreshing warm pearly smile and waved. We didn’t know what to expect. As we climbed the spiral heel-catcher, we laughed as the group of us struggled our way to the top. We approached the entrance to the Etihad Airways-sponsored event,  instantly met with the strikingly white backdrop covered with large block and bold red LFW letters, accessorised with immaculately dressed, beaming, flight attendants from the airline. Halima almost instantly took to the crowd with ease, like she was built to be there. She posed for the cameras with grace and humility.

We explored the showroom,  as we parted ways with her for a little while, searching through the regal rails planted by designers from around the globe. Presenting their lines of frills, metallic delights, box pleats, tailored block color suits, mustard dresses, ball gowns, fur bombers, and off the shoulder prince charming bell sleeved linens and organzas.

We approached the long line all white corridor, stamped with Itallics, “Halima” accessorised with plants and trees, an indoor elysian secret garden. We were welcomed as Halima’s team, (because all hijab-clad women must be together right?) I was a little taken aback by the breathtaking open-plan light-filled room, filled with industry guests, what seemed like the 29th floor (pretty sure it was the third) the white modern decor but also 70’s inspired lounge, was decorated with delicate lilac orchids, and hanging succulents. Halal inspired ( I hope) vegan Middle Eastern delights bread salad, jewelled with nuts and herbs.

The thought dawned on me, this was all for Halima, it felt like a queen was ascending her throne, it was a beautiful moment, knowing all these industry humans,  respected and hardworking dominating their field,  about to be seated in a semi-circular halaqa like format, hanging on to her every word.

As Halima did her rounds, waving, smiling, and welcoming all of her guests, we found our places as the Vogue contributing Beauty Editor, Funmi Fetto entered in a strikingly beautiful royal blue velvet midi off the shoulder dress to start her ‘in conversation with’. Two black women dominating their fields, it was beautiful to see. It was clear instantly that merely four visibly Muslim women were present (Halima being one of them) in a room filled with 60 to 70. A little surprising since London Modest Fashion Week had just past, and in 2018, I expected many more Muslim women to be present at the table of influencers, building the conversation on representation  since the modest fashion industry is now reaching over 200 billion dollars, something the editor in chief of Vogue was quick to mention as she asked Halima about finding more Hijab wearing Muslim models. It seems she had caught on to the mastery of Muslim women in numbers, powering some of the fashion markets economies.

A Conversation With

The discussion began, and almost instantaneously I was taken to a hot refugee camp in Somalia, as she loquaciously narrated her tales of growing up with very little. The importance of humanity was gifted to her, during her time spent in Refugee camps,

“The camp was very diverse with Africans from all different parts, early on I realised the power of diversity. When the kids  would play together we would intermix, that’s when we find commonality, we see the importance of the human race, the refugee camp taught me how to look beyond people’s races and religions.”

Her Noor (light) reflected, jumped and rolled off of the words she spun, to help us understand how a young creative-minded little six-year-old girl, felt only joy as she moved from house to house, and camp to camp, this was the only life she knew, she exclaimed, “our hut was built, then it rained, then it was blown away, to me it was exciting it felt like we were going on a family vacation.”

It is something to be mentioned and celebrated that Halima’s beauty is just as, if not more, breathtaking in person as it is on Instagram and Vogue, however, make no mistake, this is a hardworking and intelligent woman who was able to bring her charm and wit to the conversation, retorting to a comment made, “English is my third language so I’ll let you explain.”

It became apparent to me that this woman was an orator, she captivated the audience whilst she dived in and out of her fond memories of Somalia,  with chronicles detailing her journey to America, after the civil unrest in Somalia. “Coming to  America, I was a translator for my mom around the camps, I spoke two languages at the time, Swahili and Somali” where English would later become her third. She lamented on growing up around her classmates, who would ask her if she even had hair under her Hijab or not, to which she replied: “yes I do and it’s luscious”. She explained how out of place she felt, after coming from her home country, surrounded by girls who looked and dressed just like her, and how this only served to strengthen her understanding of how important her own acceptance of her unique identity, would be later on.

On the Precipice of Genius

I stood back, having an out of body experience floating to the ceiling, and looking back on the last 10 years, this didn’t feel like a coincidence, this was a transformative moment, I could feel the pins and needles in my finger tips, almost like this moment, was on the precipice of something genius,

this was a  young black Somali hijab-wearing Muslim woman, no older than 20, in a room filled with, well let’s say, people who were not that. She was enlightening us all, helping us to understand her worldview, she commanded our attention without even trying, her playful and happy disposition was infectious as she was able to bring the crowd out of our very British, rigidly polite shells, causing us to giggle a number of times. She is doing for the fashion world, what Mohamed Salah is doing for football, acting as ambassadors of the faith. This moment was one for the books, I kind of felt honoured to be a part of something so phenomenal. Not because we must applaud finally being accepted by industry individuals, whatever that means. No not this at all, more so this woman had power, the good kind, that can evoke a lot of change, to me, she is a symbol of light that is unchanging, and constant in a world that is built upon temperamental values.

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Intersectional identity

Her pride in her many identities, as a Muslim woman, as a Somali refugee, a model,  was very apparent, she plays into all of them beautifully and interchangeably with ease in the same moment. It was clear to see by how she carried herself, and spoke, that her values were and are very important to her, she holds them in high regard. I asked her during the Q & A session,

“In this industry how do you maintain your faith”? She spoke of the value of women taking our time, to understand and know ourselves, to learn about our own boundaries, what we will and will not accept and never swaying from this.

She mentioned her very supportive and sensitive PR team and Agent who take her faith seriously when navigating jobs and appearances. She was right, I could see it, in every piece of work published, and runway show she had partaken in, in the public eye, her belief system, what she deems to be true and right for her, had never faltered, giving her the power to maintain her dignity. She talked about how she established rules early on, managing outfit changes between shows, creating off-limit boundaries for men, or cameras that may be documenting the show for behind the scenes footage. When our COO asked Halima,  “as Muslim women our identities and aesthetic are constantly coming into question, what advice  would you give to young Muslim girls?” She replied,

“they will meet you where you stand, if you set your own guidelines and have your own values, it is easy to communicate that, sometimes it doesn’t work out and it might not be for you but there’s a million other ways”

Switching roles

What I also found fascinating is how she was able to switch roles, from infamous model literally just off the NYFW runway equipped with the tools and skills to navigate the world of high fashion in just under a year, to ambassador, warm-hearted activist aiming to provide a space for Muslim women to  be inspired, to internalise that they can dominate any field they wish to. A woman who stands for the spectrum of voices of Muslim women, “no one needs to speak for us, invite Muslim Women to speak for themselves…If I sit and criticise another woman who decides to dress differently than I do, I am really hurting myself in the bigger picture,” Halima replied when asked about being confident in her own skin, how important it is as women of all faiths, to honour each other by respecting the clothes we choose to wear as a form of identity,  there is confidence in that. She highlighted that this goes both ways, for Muslim and non-Muslim women, she went on to explain, “now that I am in this industry, I want to make the most of it.” She was honest about the fact that it was hard learning how to balance her own dreams whilst thinking about how her community would react to her winning the Mass Minessota USA pageant in 2016.

“my mum didn’t get it..my community were not happy with a woman competing in hijab in a pageant,  it scared me, I thought maybe I’m stepping out of my community and I didn’t want to disrespect anyone.”

The momentary shame she felt when she found out she had won the pageant, was a reflection of this. More than this, she is also a woman who wants to support labels that provide aid via Unicef for Somalia. A woman who is educated and mindful of her place in this world, and her contribution in making it better. All this, in just a year, at the age of 20 I am fascinated, and excited to see what this unique human will achieve, in the years to come.