Pandora may have recently relaunched in August 2019 to target a new generation of modern women, but the Danish jewelry brand’s timeless pieces have always been known to transcend the swift fashion cycle. A year after establishing a long term partnership with Pandora as part of the brand’s relaunch, the Pandora Muses, “a global collective of inspiring women,” join Pandora to celebrate 20 years of the iconic Pandora Moments charm bracelet as part of its Voices of Pandora campaign. The campaign invites the Pandora Muses, superfans and consumers to share how their curated charm bracelets represents their memorable firsts.
Halima Aden is among the diverse group of women that make up the Pandora Muses (alongside Georgia May Jagger, Margaret Zhang, Tasya van Ree, Nathalie Emmanuel and Larsen Thompson), and as the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant, in Sports Illustrated and on the cover of Essence, the fashion model knows a thing or two about memories worth celebrating, and the Pandora Moments bracelet’s 20th anniversary is the perfect occasion.
“I didn’t grow up with jewelry,” Aden tells ESSENCE. “In fact, the only jewelry we had back home were handmade beads. So it took me a while to embrace jewelry, and now it’s such a gift to have my own, and it just shows you how far I’ve come in my short life.”
Kicking off her modeling career in 2016, Aden has achieved grand successes in a short time, from walking for numerous designers during fashion week since her runway debut with Yeezy, to collaborating with Modanisa to design her own turban and shawl collection. Through it all, operating through a philanthropic lens has been a must for the model since the get-go.
“I just knew I didn’t want to do fashion without connecting it with activism,” Aden said. “When it’s time to decide who we want to partner up with, which brands I want to work with, that aspect of giving back is so important, which is exactly why I decided to do this Pandora partnership.” Aden, who became a UNICEF ambassador in 2018, adds that seeing the jewelry company create jobs for and give back to the countries they source from, along with empowering women through initiatives such as bringing the Pandora Muses together, made for the perfect partnership.
The Pandora Moments hand-finished bracelet is offered separate from Pandora’s vast selection of charms. From a birthday cake charm, to a stack of graduation books marked “2020,” to a collection of Disney-themed charms, consumers can document their memories through style on their terms.
“I love the fact that … for each bracelet you can really customize it so that it matches your life story, something you can pass down to your kids one day,” Aden says. “There’s something about a physical piece of jewelry that you can touch and then instantly be taken back to a memory.”
Learn more about the Pandora Moments bracelet at us.pandora.net.