Ugbad Abdi is a girl with an unconventional story. When she was only little, she flee from homecountry Somalia to Kenya, where she lived in a refugee center. Short after, she moved to Iowa and grew up in The States. When she grew up and went to high school, everything went fast. Abdi debuted at Valentino’s show and soon was the first model ever wearing a hijab at Lanvin’s and Fendi’s catwalk shows. A girl breaking the rules.
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Ugbad Abdi
Fashion model Ugbad Abdi hasn’t a conventional story including the American dream. However, she got scouted shortly after her graduation from high school. Just like many other models, a scout’s eye felt on her via Instagram. Soon she traveled to New York City to meet agencies and signed at Next Management.
Expanding boundaries
Ugbad Abdi was among the first models to get accepted while wearing a hijab. It’s a structural part of her look; fashion labels have to respect her beliefs and belonging expressions. Since her debut at Valentino’s runway, other renowned fashion houses stood in line to cooperate. As a result, Abdi was the first model wearing a hijab walking the runway for both Lanvin and Fendi. Meanwhile, she has walked shows for Chanel, Dries van Noten, Max Mara, Miu Miu, Simone Rocha, Burberry, Michael Kors and many others.
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What makes her so special, is that she seems to have the confidence of well-experienced supermodel. With only one year of experience, this is out of the ordinary; yet it brought her an impressive resume. On top of this, before she walked her first show, she had never walked in heels before. Therefore, her management had a job to be done and took it very seriously. They saw Abdi’s potential and drilled her to develop her own signature walk – even while wearing heels. And hard work pays off, since Abdi is one of the most in-demand models of the moment.
We’re sure her modeling career will be as booming as her learning curve while walking on heels. A girl to keep an eye on.
Also read: Curvy model Jill Kortleve makes history at Chanel
