Barbie has had a brand-new makeover and Instagram couldn’t keep calm. This time the Barbie can be seen as a Hijab-wearing Muslim woman.
Last month, Mattel gave Barbie this amazing transformation with a wide range of skin tone, body types and adding curves to her extremely thin frame.
This time, a Nigerian medical scientist took Instagram by storm by posting the images of a Hijab wearing Barbie a few weeks ago.
We were so used to see the Barbie in the denim hot pants and pink skimpy tops, but these colourful Hijabs with full-length dresses has added something to her looks. The new Hijab-wearing Barbie is fondly being known as ‘Hijarbie’.
What motivated Haneefa Adam to create ‘Hijarbie’?
Haneefa Adam explains how she got the motivation to transform the conventional Barbie doll. She came across the page ‘Barbie Style Instagram’ and got inspired to create a Hijarbie.
In an interview with CNN, she told, “"I thought I had not seen Barbie dressed in a hijab before so I decided to open an Instagram account and dressed Barbie up in the clothes that I made. I thought it was really important for a doll to be dressed like how I would be."
The 24-year old creator of Hijarbie completed her Masters in Pharmacology in the UK. She believes that Hijarbie is a modest doll and the Muslim girls will relate better to her.
“"It has roots in my religion and cultural identity. The way Barbie dresses is very skimpy and different and there's nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to give another option for Muslim girls like me”, she says as she speaks to CNN.
She also adds, “"I want to use the Instagram page to create an identity for her similar to Barbie."
The reactions of people were overwhelmingly amazing. In no time, she became an internet star. Now this Hijab-wearing Barbie is ruling the Instagram with 78,600 followers. Now Haneefa plans to introduce dolls of different colour for Hijarbie.
Haneefa Adams speaks on Hijab and oppression of Muslim women
Haneefa opens up about the backlash she received on posting the pictures of Hijarbie. She received some comments from people who think women wearing Hijab is a sign of oppression. She wants to fix that misconception.
"People think that when Muslim women cover up they are forced to. (The) majority of us are not," she says.
She adds that Muslim women cover up because they want. They want to express their religion as anyone else would like to. Many Muslim women are there who don’t cover up and it doesn’t make them any less of a Muslim.
You can see some gorgeous images of Barbie clad in a Hijab on this account.
Picture Courtesy: Mini Hijab Fashion!
