DUBAI: Luxury US label St. John seems keen to tap into a younger audience with its latest collection — and they are relying on some serious star power to do just that.
Over the weekend, 23-year-old model Halima Aden took to Instagram to share a flurry of campaign photos taken for the fashion house, in which she is seen posing in an ensemble from the Fall collection.
“Ready for the world in my @stjohnknits as we celebrate the launch of their new Fall collection,” the hijab-wearing model captioned one of the posts.
Founded in 1962, the label is best known for its classic wool and rayon yarn knits and Aden showed off a prime example to her 1.2 million Instagram followers on Friday.
The model opted for a high collar, ankle-length knitted dress in a sophisticated shade of cream. The sleek look featured puffed, wrist-length sleeves and was belted at the waist with a thin gold strap. Aden paired the winter-ready look with a matching knotted turban and kept her makeup pared down, smoky and perfect for the fall season.
Sold exclusively online, the new line is a limited-edition capsule collection by former Dior designer Zoe Turner. Turner upped the ante with exaggerated lengths and dramatic drapes while remaining faithful to the fashion house’s core brand pillars — quality fabrics and expert craftsmanship.
“Feeling the power and elegance of femininity with @stjohnknits,” Aden posted on Instagram Stories on Friday.
It has been a busy few weeks for the model, who was recently unveiled as one of the faces of Tommy Hilfiger’s Fall 2020 global campaign. The US-Somali beauty appears in the new ad campaign alongside a diverse cast of other top models, including Dilone, Alton Mason, Soo Joo Park and more.
Aden made her runway debut at Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 5 show during New York Fashion Week in 2017. She went on to become the first Muslim woman wearing a hijab to grace the cover of several publications, including British Vogue, and has walked in various fashion weeks in New York, London and Paris. Aden has also appeared in a number of ad campaigns for prestigious brands, such as Fenty Beauty and Nike.
Aden, who grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp before immigrating to the United States with her family aged six, was also appointed as the new Chief Coconut Officer for the coconut water brand Vita Coco’s Vita Coco Project, an initiative founded in 2014 which helps to build the communities they source their coconuts from.
