Miss England finalist will be first to wear a hijab

Lauren Said-Moorhouse
Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN
3 minute read
Published 11:21 AM EDT, Tue September 4, 2018
01 Sara Iftekhar RESTRICTED
Instagram/Sara Iftekhar
CNN  — 

A 20-year-old law student is set to be the first Miss England finalist to wear a hijab while competing for the coveted beauty crown.

Sara Iftekhar, from West Yorkshire, already holds the title of Miss Huddersfield 2018 but is hoping to take the top national spot at the finals in Nottinghamshire on Tuesday.

While previous Muslim competitors have chosen to wear headscarves, Iftekhar will be the first finalist to do so.

Sharing a selfie with a trophy back in July, she wrote of her struggle with comprehending ‘how amazing” she felt to have gone so far in the pageant.

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“It was an incredible experience and something which I will never be able to forget. The opportunities which I have received with being a finalist in Miss England are opportunities which I would never have thought of and will forever be grateful for,” she wrote.

Whoever takes the Miss England crown will go on to compete at the Miss World competition in Sanya, a city on China’s Hainan Island in December.

As part of the competition, the women are encouraged to use their platform to raise money for “Beauty with a Purpose” – a Miss World organization that supports disadvantaged children around the world.

Iftekar wrote on her crowdfunding page that her motivation for participating in the pageant was “to show that beauty doesn’t have a definition, everyone is beautiful in their own ways, regardless of their weight, race, colour or shape.”

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The aspiring lawyer, who has had a keen interest in fashion and beauty from a young age, started her own clothing business at just 16 years old.

Throughout the competition, she has been creating “eco dresses” – taking old materials like paper boxes and plastic garbage bags and incorporating them into her outfits – and documenting the upcycling process on her Instagram account.

In July, model Halima Aden became the first hijabi woman to feature on the cover of British Vogue.

A former pageant contestant herself, Aden told CNN that taking part while also wearing a headscarf was an opportunity to dispel the narrative that Muslim women are oppressed.

“There are so many Muslim women that feel like they don’t fit society’s standard of beauty,” she said in June. “I just wanted to tell them it’s OK to be different, being different is beautiful, too.”

One of the ways Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, founder of MuslimGirl.com, begins her talks is by asking the audience to search for images of 'Muslim women' in their phone browsers. The result is more often than not a wall of women hidden behind black cloth.
One of the ways Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, founder of MuslimGirl.com, begins her talks is by asking the audience to search for images of 'Muslim women' in their phone browsers. The result is more often than not a wall of women hidden behind black cloth.
Aly Raff/Photodisc/Getty Images
To begin changing this misrepresentation of Muslim women in the media, MuslimGirl.com partnered with Getty Images to produce a collection of positive images of Muslim women in March 2017.
To begin changing this misrepresentation of Muslim women in the media, MuslimGirl.com partnered with Getty Images to produce a collection of positive images of Muslim women in March 2017.
Jenna Masoud/Digital Vision/Getty Images
The <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/search/photographer?family=creative&photographer=muslim%20girl&excludenudity=true&sort=best#license" target="_blank" target="_blank">collection</a> features images of Muslim women with and without a hijab going about their daily business at home, with friends, and in the workplace.
The collection features images of Muslim women with and without a hijab going about their daily business at home, with friends, and in the workplace.
Alia Youssef/Digital Vision/Getty Images
"We created stock photos of Muslim women that are shot by Muslim women, led by Muslim women, and the models are Muslim women," Al-Khatahtbeh told CNN.
"We created stock photos of Muslim women that are shot by Muslim women, led by Muslim women, and the models are Muslim women," Al-Khatahtbeh told CNN.
Muslim Girl/Digital Vision/Getty Images
The idea is to push back against misconceptions of the Islamic community by diversifying the depiction of Muslim women online.
The idea is to push back against misconceptions of the Islamic community by diversifying the depiction of Muslim women online.
Alia Youssef/Digital Vision/Getty Images
"Keyword searches for Muslim have gone up 107% on GettyImages.com over the past year, so it's even more important to ensure images like these are surfaced at the top of our results," Pam Grossman, director of visual trends at Getty Images, said in a <a href="http://press.gettyimages.com/getty-images-and-muslimgirl-com-partner-to-promote-positive-images-of-modern-muslim-women/" target="_blank" target="_blank">statement</a>.
"Keyword searches for Muslim have gone up 107% on GettyImages.com over the past year, so it's even more important to ensure images like these are surfaced at the top of our results," Pam Grossman, director of visual trends at Getty Images, said in a statement.
Alia Youssef/Digital Vision/Getty Images
"Positive imagery can have a tremendous impact by fighting stereotypes, celebrating diversity, and making communities feel empowered and represented in society," said Grossman.
"Positive imagery can have a tremendous impact by fighting stereotypes, celebrating diversity, and making communities feel empowered and represented in society," said Grossman.
Jenna Masoud/Digital Vision/Getty Images
This is what a Muslim girl looks like

According to UK’s Women and Equalities Committee, Muslim women “suffer the greatest economic disadvantages of any group” in British society for reasons that include discrimination, Islamophobia and stereotyping.

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Meanwhile, the debate around women in headscarves was reignited in the UK in August after former foreign secretary Boris Johnson likened Muslim women wearing veils to “letterboxes” and bank robbers.

Johnson’s comments sparked numerous complaints and he is facing an internal party investigation into potential breaches of his Conservative Party’s code of conduct.