The annual issue of Sports Illustrated Magazine will for the first time feature a Muslim model wearing a hijab and burkini, AFP reports.
The shoot of Somali-American model Halima Aden will take place in Kenya. Aden was born in Kenya in a refugee camp and she lived there until the age of seven.
“Growing up in the States, I never really felt represented because I never could flip through a magazine and see a girl who was wearing a hijab,” the model said in a video tweeted by Sports Illustrated official account.
The magazine also posted a picture of Halima posing lying down in shallow water, wearing a turquoise hijab, long yellow earrings and a deep blue burkini — the full length swimsuit favoured by some Muslim women.
This is not the first time that Halima has broken new ground. The 21-year-old made headlines at age 19 when she was the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA Pageant, where she made the semi-finals in 2016.