Words by Shaiba Nimal

In 1993, Ms. Haneefa Hilmy came back to the Maldives after completing her schooling in London, with a dream hanging in the shadows. She yearned to venture into the fashion industry and studied about it while in London, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she had to place her goals on hold and travel back to her home country.

However, Haneefa was not one to stay still and let her passion slip away. Thus, began her journey into the world of fashion in the capital city of Male’. With nothing but unwavering drive on her side, she set out to reform an entire industry in the Maldives, which was at that time, nothing less than nonexistent.
Without paying heed to the naysayers, Haneefa launched her fashion store, “HE N SHE” (name inspired by her favorite store in London, “What She Wants“) in STO trade center. With dresses, blouses, tops, and jeans, all imported and in line with the latest trends, Haneefa worked to bring a new sense of style to the Maldivian community.

One of the initial obstacles she had to overcome was to find a way to convince people living in Male to actively seek out her store. This was when Haneefa took matters into her own hands and added another hat to her already impressive resume. She began creating advertisements to show off her products by recruiting youth from the Maldivian community, who showed interest in the field, to model her clothing. Haneefa was the producer, director, make-up artist, and stylist, all rolled into one as she hand-picked models to create fun and inventive videos that were, at the time, ground-breaking.

What started off as a venture into recruiting models to advertise her clothes slowly transformed into a completely different entity with a mind of its own. She found herself pulling away from her store to focus more on the models she had helped refine, and slowly but surely, the foundation for what would later become the He N She modeling agency was set.

With more and more members of the Maldivian youth joining the “He N She family” as Haneefa likes to call it, she was not only managing a store but organizing and holding shows throughout resorts in the Maldives; during which the models would not only display cultural clothing but also engage in traditional dance and song. These shows received enormous support. Not only from Maldivians, but from the tourist community as well. In fact, Haneefa was invited by tourists in the entertainment industry to bring her shows to their home countries as well.

If running her own store and modeling agency was not enough, He N She also partnered up with the Institute of Tourism and Fashion Technology from Chandigarh, India to educate the youth in design and fashion, opening up doors for them that were, at one point, tightly shut.

Unfortunately, at He N She’s peak, Haneefa had to leave the country yet again, and she states that it felt as though she had to leave her family behind

Of course, however, it did not take long for her to get back in the game. After receiving licensing from the Top Model Franchise in the year 2018, He N She worked to revive modeling back in the Maldives with new zeal, and with a team of established designers and artists on its side, the agency carried out its first competition: Top Model Maldives.

With immense support from the Maldivian youth – young girls who had been yearning for a chance to step foot in the fashion industry – the competition was an unprecedented success. For most of its participants, this was an opportunity of a lifetime.

Social media was set ablaze with pictures and videos from the journey of the participants, and He N She rose to prominence once again. The first winner, Jamsheeda Jamsheed was selected and sent to Top Model of the World where she won Ms. Meraki Glam Model.

It comes as a surprise to no one that with the overwhelmingly positive response they received in 2018, He N She carried out the competition once again in 2019, with the winner being Saaniya Ahmed, and the Maldivian community was once again captivated by the splendorous display of talent, fashion, and beauty.

He N She did, indeed, rise again like a phoenix.

It is important to note that He N She is just beginning, as they are on the cusp of revolutionizing the Maldivian fashion industry. Indeed, their ultimate goal is to not just reform fashion, but create a franchise that encompasses all aspects of the fashion and lifestyle industry.

Hence, they believed the next best step was to bring a voice to the faces of the ever-growing industries. Voices that were, up until recently, being suppressed, voices that need to be heard, booming and echoing.
Thus, Kaleo was born.

“Kaleo” translates to “the voice” in Hawaiian – and what better a name for the magazine that will strive to introduce both the local and international community to the talents of the Maldivian youth, artists, and figures that deserve to be displayed and celebrated.

With time, Kaleo hopes to branch out to neighboring countries as well and showcase their talents and works, along with our very own homegrown artists, to the rest of the world.