The 19-year old Reshma Bano will model at NY Fashion Week after being disfigured by acid. Her presence aims at highlighting the victims of acid-attacks.
The teen is from Mumbai, India. The city hosts 11.98 million people (New York has 8.41) which make it the 6th most populous city in the world. After she had jilted her brother-in-law, Reshma was burnt by him with acid, while she was trying to protect her sister. In this attack, her face was disfigured, and she was blinded in one eye. After that, Reshma fell into depression and suicidal thoughts dug into her mind as she had ‘no will to live’. Despite the nine-month skin surgery, Reshma still presents deep signs of acid on her face. When FTL Moda invited her to join as a model at the NY Fashion Week she broke down in tears, sharing the emotion of visiting the Big Apple for the first time.
In the past, the fashion world gave numerous signs of ‘thinking global’ and in accordance with many of the global perspectives. For instance, Giorgio Armani stopped using animal fur in his products with a declared aim of fighting violence against animals. Furthermore, modeling is embracing more and more patterns of diversity, dismantling, in this way, the perfectionism that used to exemplify fashion. For instance, Winnie Harlow was discovered by Tyra Banks’s ANTM’s team. Then she became brand representative of Desigual after which she launched herself as an activist (see her in: Vitiligo: A Skin Condition, not a Life Changer). Last but not least, beauty standards are changing since more and more brands started working with all-size models, promoting, in this way, more healthy canons. For once, the fashion world is adapting to the real world patterns and not the opposite.
In substance, what the NYC fashion week is doing for Reshma is simply great. Nevertheless, and unfortunately, the fashion world cannot have the same impact as it had with vitiligo or plus-sizes. The case of Reshma is not only accepting her scars as she was not born with them. Reshma is victim of a system that marginates and oppresses women; and this is India. India has one of the highest rape rates in the world. Such rates should be taken with a grain of salt since often sexual assaults are not reported, especially in countries where machismo is that systematized. In fact: “unequal gender relations and belief in the sexual entitlement of men are entrenched in cultural and social norms, and the country has a very high incidence of rape. In the majority of cases, victims of sexual violence are silenced.”
Still, we strongly hope that a higher visibility of the phenomenon will push for a change in the governments that let women stand in oppression.
