When Reshma Qureshi, a 19-year-old from Mumbai, India, found out she was going to walk in New York Fashion Week, she cried. The moment was captured on a video from Make Love Not Scars, a rehabilitation charity she's been the face of since surviving a concentrated sulfuric acid attack from her brother-in-law in 2014 that left her face disfigured and eyes permanently damaged.
Fashion week producer FTL Moda reached out to Reshma to take part in NYFW as part of its #TakeBackBeauty campaign. On Thursday, she opened for Archana Kochhar, an Indian designer, and also walked for Vaishali Couture.
Reshma has said that the attack left her depressed and suicidal before she started working with Make Love Not Scars, which gave her "the courage to live on and do something." She has made several viral beauty tutorial videos with the aim of pushing forward a ban on over-the-counter acid sales.
'This walk was important to me because there are so many girls like me who are survivors of acid attacks, and this will give them courage,' Qureshi told the Associated Press. 'And it will also go to show people who judge people based on their appearance that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover—you should look at everyone though the same eyes.'
