Kuwaiti Blogger Ascia Removes Her Hijab For The First Time In Over A Decade
“I really want you to be able to see my soul”
After wearing the headscarf for over a decade, Kuwaiti fashion blogger, model and fashion designer Ascia Al Faraj, known by Ascia AKF, has just made the decision to remove it. In a YouTube video entitled To New Beginnings, which has already garnered over 702k views, the blogger reveals the reasons behind her decision.
“I really want you to be able to see my soul,” she says. “I don’t really believe that what a woman chooses to do with her body, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone in the process, is really anyone else’s business.”
Courtesy of Instagram/ascia
In the video, she discusses topics of anxiety, identity and the community. “I have come to the realisation that so much of my online life is spent having everyone believe that they can truly live authentically and really be themselves [and] I just no longer feel like I represented that well.”
With over 2m Instagram followers, Ascia is known for redefining fashion around the Arab world and is considered one of the most influential bloggers in the region.
“Because of the nature of my job and the nature of the community we have built over the years together, I do feel like I owe you this,” she tells her viewers. She ends by saying “I’m really excited for this new era…I’m really excited for the community that I’m hoping to build off of being your authentic self despite the hardships that might come with that sometimes.”
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