A 19-year-old Indian woman whose face was brutally disfigured in an acid
attack will walk the catwalk in New York next month in her first trip
overseas. Reshma Qureshi, who lives in Mumbai, was attacked by her
brother-in-law and pinned down by his friends who doused her face in acid
in 2014.
Her features were horribly damaged and she lost sight in one eye, but
Qureshi has been determined to build a life for herself. She is the face of
a campaign to end the open sale of acid in India and
appears in videos on YouTube offering beauty tips and make-up advice.
FTL Moda, a fashion production company, invited her to take part in New
York Fashion Week, the bi-annual style frenzy that brings together models,
fashion editors, buyers and designers from across the world.
She is scheduled to walk the runway on September 8 in two shows during New
York Fashion Week, FTL Moda told AFP. The daughter of a taxi driver, she
was filmed wiping away tears and smiling when told by the charity Make Love
Not Scars that she would be flying to New
York.
The London-based charity Acid Survivors Trust International estimates there
are 500 to 1,000 acid attacks each year in India. Acid attacks rarely kill
but leave severe physical, psychological and
social scars. They are a particular problem in Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan
Africa, the West Indies and the Middle East.
The overwhelming number of victims are women and children. FTL Moda is
committed to challenging norms of beauty in the fashion world and last year
invited Madeline Stuart, an Australian teenager with Down syndrome, to walk
the runway, garnering rave reviews. (AFP)