Meet Hijarbie – the hijab-wearing fashion doll and face of an Instagram account created by 24-year-old Nigerian woman Haneefah Adam.
The account features Barbie dolls wearing traditional Islamic veil, the hijab, and styled in beautiful, home-made outfits inspired by modern Muslim women’s fashion.
After just 9 weeks of posting, Hijarbie has collected more than 36,000 followers, with the account attracting an overwhelmingly positive response from Instagram users.
Adam told Al Jazeera she started the account after noticing the lack of outfits for the popular doll that reflected the way many Muslim women dress.
“I set up the account initially to create an avenue to make modest outfits for dolls, because I haven’t really seen one before,” Adam told Al Jazeera.
“Before I created the account, I hadn’t seen a doll in hijab that had her own account and personality. This account provided that hijabi style avenue.”
Adam represents many modern Muslim women who enjoy dressing fashionably, while stills adhering to their faith.
“The hijab is actually more about modesty than fashion but who says you can’t incorporate both together? Fashion with faith,” she said.
“A lot of people have adopted [the veil] now because they know they can be fashionable without actually compromising their faith.”
Barbie has always been a fashion doll. From puffed sleeves to mini-skirts, Barbie’s outfits have chronicled fashion trends over the decades since her birth in 1959.
World-renowned designers such as Giorgio Armani, Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfield, Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang have all tried their hand at dressing the fashionista.
Mattel has been praised for its soon-to-be launched collection of “tall”, “petite” and “curvy” dolls and has a history of creating dolls that represent many cultures, but is yet to feature dolls in traditional or modern Islamic dress.
Cape, anyone? ❤️❤️ #Hijarbie #hijarbiestyle #hijabfashion #instafashion A photo posted by Mini Hijab Fashion! (@hijarbie) on
Which might be why Instagram followers have responded so positively to a woman filling the gap in the market.
ninjakittyrhps: “So getting some of these for when I have kids, I have so many Barbies but I want my kids to know and love diversity”
marenna_mitchell_: “I honestly want one of these.”
Hijarbie is not the first Instagram account to give Barbie a make-over.
Sociality Barbie (aka Hipster Barbie) was a latte-sipping, beanie-wearing send-up of hipster culture and was a vehicle for discussion of how people represent themselves online.
The account gained 1.2 million followers before creator Darby Cisneros finished the project last November.
Meanwhile, Adam has no plans to stop creating fashionable choices for Barbie dolls and mini outfits inspired by modern Muslim women.
“There a lot of concepts to still explore on the page, and I can’t wait to have fun with it.”