{"id":14901,"date":"2013-02-04T01:02:40","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T01:02:40","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-02-04T01:02:40","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T01:02:40","slug":"Modeling-Gives-Muslim-Writer-New-Perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=14901","title":{"rendered":"Modeling Gives Muslim Writer New Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amidst a music video culture of scantily-clad women, Hajer Naili prefers to cover up and goes for videos that don\u2019t require baring the body.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She models through Underwraps Agency, which says it\u2019s the world\u2019s first Muslim modeling agency. Brooklyn-based fashion designer Nailah Lymus founded the agency in February 2012. It \u201caims to promote a different image of Muslim women, often portrayed as subservient and hidden,\u201d writes Naili in a piece for Women\u2019s eNews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now living in New York, she didn\u2019t start out as a model but supported the philosophy behind the agency and took the opportunity when Lymus asked her to join.<\/strong> As a writer, Naili works to \u201cshow the real face of Muslim women.\u201d Underwraps Agency provided her another way to do so.<\/p>\n

Naili also looked at how the hijab factored into her life.<\/p>\n

I recently stopped wearing the headscarf. When you wear a headscarf, you become the symbol of a community, of an entire religion. All your deeds and actions are supposed to reflect the religion you follow. It is a big responsibility, one I realized I wasn\u2019t ready for at this point in my life. Though the decision to wear it and remove it was a big one.<\/em><\/p>\n

But for over a year I wore it. And during all that time, every day was a new occasion to show that a Muslim woman can be religious, covered but still confident, secure and fashion forward. I attracted curious and prying looks and sometimes even had strangers approach me on the street to ask questions. I am very open when it comes to discussing my religion as long as individuals question and not assume.<\/em><\/p>\n

While she has stopped wearing the hijab, dressing modestly remains important to Naili. But modeling hasn\u2019t only intertwined with her religious beliefs, it helped her find solace from a past of body image problems, including anorexia-bulimia, which she faced growing up in France. In the U.S., she writes, there is a growing acceptance for bodies in different sizes.<\/p>\n

Today, I never weigh myself and will never again do so after overcoming this devastating disease. I accept and enjoy my body with its shapes; and even more since I moved to the United States.<\/p>\n

Here, it seems more possible to be curvy and comfortable with your body, not having your confidence and entire being caught up in conforming to a rigid standard of beauty. All that makes it feel good right now to be a Muslim woman living in the West, free to be in harmony with my religion and to celebrate my feminine identity.<\/em>
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