Luxury Hijab Fashion: Veiled model to feature in Burberry's 2019 campaign

Looking at fashion shows and their history, some racial inequality could be traced back to their start alongside a lot of animal cruelty. But with time and the ever-growing sharpness of social media, even the kings of fashion had to bow to reality ... there is no time and space for racism, and as of recently, for Islamophobia. 

British luxury fashion brand Burberry announced this week the cast of its Festive Campaign for 2019, and it features hijabi Swedish model Ikram Abdi Omar. According to Harpers Bazaar Arabia, Omar is set to become the first-ever veiled model to be featured in the brand's annual campaign. 

Keep in mind Burberry has been established since 1856, but only had a slot for a veiled Muslim woman now, 163 years later.

The company's most recent campaign is its most diverse yet, starring a number of talented cast including former Italian supermodel and singer Carla Bruni, Russian model Sasha Pivovarova, in addition to the brand's current ambassadors Zhou Dongyu and Yoo Ah-In. 

The Burberry campaign is set to be unveiled across all the brand's online platforms on Nov. 13 and will run until the end of December. 

Omar - born in Sweden but raised in the UK - is the first hijabi model to sign with London's prestigious Booking Models agency. 

The model made her fashion week debut with Molly Goddard at the autumn/winter 2018 season at London Fashion Week. 

In the past few months, she's been rising to prominence by working on campaigns for Zandra Rhodes Archive, Nicopanda, Ryan Lo, and Juicy Couture.

Years back, hijabi and modest fashion were mostly left out of major campaigns and events, but that's all changing now.

As the industry moves towards representing women of different cultural and religious backgrounds, there's been a significant improvement when it comes to the inclusion of hijabi runway models. Both veiled and unveiled Muslim women are now breaking barriers on the global fashion scene, featuring in huge campaigns and taking the internet by storm time and again. 

These include one of the most successful hijabi models of our time, Halima Aden. The Somali-American model gained worldwide attention, becoming the first hijabi model to sign with international modeling agency IMG Models —  home to Gigi and Bella Hadid as well as Miranda Kerr. She has since walked the New York Fashion Week runway, showcasing Kanye West's Yeezy collection, graced the cover of Teen Vogue and Vogue Arabia, and been featured in campaigns for American Eagle and Rihanna's Fenty Beauty. 

Aden isn't the only hijabi model/star who made headlines and history for being featured on the covers of magazines or in promotional campaigns in recent years. 

Several others have become icons of representation including Libyan-American Noor Tagouri who featured on Playboy in 2016. That same year, hijabi runner Rahaf Khatib graced the cover of Women's Running. 

In 2015, H&M's multimedia promotional campaign featured hijabi British-Moroccan-Pakistani model Mariah Idrissi. Since then, many other brands have followed suit in hiring Muslim models including Gap and Dolce & Gabbana.