Reshma Qureshi, an acid attack survivor, will make a strong political statement when she walks the runway for New York Fashion Week next month.
The 19-year-old is the face of #EndAcidSale, a campaign created by New Delhi-based non-governmental organization Make Love Not Scars that is against the sale of acid and acid attacks in India. She will bring their message to North America – and the VIP fashion event – for the first time.
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In May 2014, Qureshi and her sister Gulshan were visiting the city of Allahabad in northern India when they were violently attacked by Gulshan’s estranged husband and two other people, Quartz India reports.
When Qureshi tried to help her sister, the men poured acid on her face.
“We asked people for help, but no one helped us,” Qureshi told the publication.
She was eventually offered minimal assistance at a local hospital, but didn’t receive treatment or surgery until she returned home to Mumbai. (According to Women Now, crowdfunding campaigns were set up to help cover the costs of her numerous operations.)
After the attack, Qureshi teamed up with Make Love Not Scars and created informational videos describing India’s problem with acid attacks and how they affect the lives of victims.
The videos were noticed by FTL Moda, a fashion production company that has become a leading advocate for diversity on runways; the company hired models with disabilities to appear in several fall/winter 2015 shows.
The company contacted the NGO to ask if they could fly Qureshi out to Manhattan to walk for them this fall.
Make Love Not Scars even filmed the moment when their spokesmodel was given the news.
Qureshi and another woman are seen sitting at a table looking at a computer screen with a photo of the New York City skyline.
“A big fashion show takes place in New York,” the woman says. “In September, you will walk on the ramp in that fashion show. Are you excited?”
Qureshi is left speechless with a smile on her face and begins to cry.
“I feel really good,” she says to the camera.
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“It has been a journey of discovery that led us to Make Love Not Scars, the most recognized entity supporting survivors of acid attacked in India,” Ilaria Niccolini, producer at FTL Moda, said to News 18. “We want to give voice to these amazing women who have been silently suffering, hiding and too often depriving themselves of the opportunity to declare how beastly and cruelly they have been attacked.”
The exact date of Qureshi’s walk down the runway is not yet known, though New York Fashion Week runs from Sept. 8 to 15.
According to the Government of India, there were 309 acid attack cases reported in 2014.
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