Haneefah Adam…photo credit: KacheeTee
Haneefah Adam
Fast forward to 2016 and Haneefah Adam, a 26-year-old Nigerian native made waves in the world of doll making. A pharmacologist by trade, Adam formulated the “Hijabie.” Though she didn’t play with Barbies as a child, she was interested in reading, sculpting, painting and drawing. Adam does acknowledge the need for adolescents to see themselves in a positive light. She remarks to UmmZakiyyah during an interview, “it is important to provide a sense of normalcy for children while they grow up, in their inquisitive years, they might wonder why they don’t look like some certain people, they need to understand why they look or dress different than others and appreciate diversity while still identifying and acknowledging their own roots.”
Adam explains that the idea for designing her own doll came from a lack of depiction of hijabis in mainstream media. She says, “the idea occurred to me when I realised that I haven’t really seen a Barbie doll dressed up in hijab before. I was still studying then and I decided to think and pray about it for a while before deciding to start documenting my own hijabi dressed up doll. I never really dreamed about it since childhood or developed it over time because I was a different kind of artist. I started developing interest for sewing when I was 13 and only made paper dresses before then.”
Being that she possessed the passion for advocacy of Muslim women and talent of designing clothing, Adam explains further, “I’m a self-taught designer, I love making dresses and started showing interest in them over 10 years ago. Hijarbie’s outfits are inspired by normal everyday looks of a Muslim girl which are all handmade by me. I currently own and run a modest lifestyle brand, Hanie, where we will be selling modest outfits, accessories and expand to home accessories as well.”
