Kanye West casts hijab-wearing model Halima Aden in his Yeezy NYFW show
From political statements to plus-size fashion, this season's New York Fashion Week continues breaking boundaries on the runway.
The latest designer to make headlines with their casting choices is Kanye West, whose Yeezy Season Five presentation, his fashion show since his hospitalization last year, featured the hijab-wearing model Halima Aden.
Aden, 19, made her runway debut in front of Kim Kardashian and Vogue's Anna Wintour sitting in the front row, though West himself didn't emerge to greet the crowd during the presentation's conclusion.
Born in a refugee camp in Kenya, Aden is a first-generation Somali-American, and is currently a freshman at Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota. She signed to IMG Models after making headlines for competing in hijab at her state's Miss USA pageant last year. Aden became the first woman to wear her traditional Muslim headpiece for the entire competition, also opting to wear a burkini for the swimsuit round.
“A lot of people will look at you and will fail to see your beauty because you’re covered up and they’re not used to it," she told Minneapolis TV station KARE in November. "So growing up, I just had to work on my people skills and give people a chance to really know me besides the clothing."
“I found that she was just so brave to stick to what she really believed in and yet go after the American dream of being in a beauty contest,” IMG Models president Ivan Bart told Business of Fashion about signing Aden. "“We’ll see how the industry reacts to Halima and works with the restrictions or not."
Aden's career also got a boost from famed fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, who featured the young model in the March issue of CR Fashion Book.
"Halima is breaking boundaries of beauty and perception by being herself," Roitfeld wrote in a preview for the new issue. "I find this incredibly inspiring, and I know she will be an icon. In CR Issue 10, she represents the diversity of Paris, where a mix of global cultures converge."
Spring 2017 fashion shows were most diverse in recent history
West's Yeezy shows have traditionally been among NYFW's most diverse. Last season, his Yeezy Season Four show featured more nonwhite models than any other designer with 97% women of color, though a casting call soliciting only multiracial models was met with backlash.
Despite its impressive diversity, West's disastrous Season Four show last September featured fainting models and melting shoes, held outside at Roosevelt's Island. For his Season Five show Wednesday, held indoors at NYC's Pier 59, he featured a fraction of the looks of his previous collection, sticking to a run time of under 15 minutes.