Survivors' Runway - A fashion show with a difference...... my personal experience...

I've done quite a lot of incredible things in my life, I've been involved in some amazing events and met inspirational people along my journey, but this event was one of the proudest moments of my career to date.

It was a complete honour and privilege to lead project teams across ActionAid UK and ActionAid Bangladesh to deliver this awe inspiring event. It was extraordinarily challenging with short time scales and complex logistics at every level. The survivors didn't have passports when we started and visas are notoriously difficult to get between the UK and Bangladesh. The visas were thankfully granted just 24hrs before our cut off date to cancel/postpone the show (phew!!) and it was incredibly emotional for me once I got the call that they had landed safely in London and were waiting to pass through passport control.

I was at the hotel to meet them and as they got off the bus, I felt I knew each of them really well. I'd read their stories a million times and finally was able to put real faces to their names. They took everything in their stride and as we got them checked in and moved rooms a few times, and brought food to their rooms, I was in awe of them (even though I had to gently remind them that they were in London now, so needed to ensure that they kept their hotel room doors closed and locked when they left them!!) - but these women had been through more than you or I could imagine in their lives, so traveling to London for the first time to take part in a massive show wasn't a big deal hey?

The first rehearsals were really emotional for me. I'm not normally such an emotional person, but I had to work hard to hold back the tears. I couldn't believe they had finally arrived and it was actually happening. The survivors were gracious, funny, warm and most important of all they were having a great time. We had been asked lots of questions from the beginning of this process about whether we were exploiting these women by putting them on a stage at a fashion show. We had to answer and address a lot of difficult issues during the journey. We are a women's rights organisation and so it is a delicate balance between giving these women a stage & voice, and exploiting them for our own purposes. Ultimately we wanted to break the silence and give these incredible survivors a voice and a platform to tell their stories and stand in solidarity with other women and girls who are survivors of violence. Our focus was always on the survivors. They were front and centre of everything we did. They were (and still are) the most important part of this show. It was their stories, their power, their courage and their strength that was going to change lives and move people.

During the pre-show media interviews, it was obvious that it was still incredibly difficult for the survivors to tell the stories of the horrific circumstances around the acid attacks that changed their lives forever. We gave them the opportunity to stop the interviews and not take part in any more - but they were each insistent that they carry on. They felt it was important to tell their story, no matter how painful, in order to break the silence and stand in solidarity with other survivors of horrific violence.

Show day came and as is pretty normal for big events, things were very chaotic. Those who have been involved in major events will understand the stress of things not arriving on time, staff having minor melt-downs, the set being built, noise, chaos, broadcasters, production teams, lighting, staging etc etc. I get a real buzz from all of that - thankfully! The survivors arrived to the venue, some having had a morning full of TV interviews (some really tough and emotional), but they had their hair done and make-up on and were genuinely excited. I brought one of the survivors, Jasmen, over to one of the huge installations which showed her story. I loved seeing her face and her smile when she saw it. I also brought Sonali, our youngest survivor at 15 years of age, to see the photo we had on display of her mother, Kodaja - it was a lovely moment to see her eyes sparkle when she saw her mothers' face.

Showtime was getting closer and the excitement was building. During the final dress rehearsal, I was completely overcome with emotion and had to sit away from everyone else to compose myself - this wasn't a good time to lose it Michelle! It wasn't even close to a perfect dress rehearsal, but again, those who have worked in events understand that this is not such a bad thing! Final staff briefing, final run behind stage to hug all the models and wish them well....... and then people start arriving...... it's show time!!!

After the reception, where people got to read stories of women and girls who are survivors of different forms of violence across the world, the guests made their way to the catwalk area. Cameras were poised, facebook live was ready to broadcast, guests (including a very large number of A-list celebrities) were being seated..... and then the lights went down.

I nearly burst with pride when I saw Sonali at 15 years of age, standing strong and proud at the bottom of the catwalk to lead the models for the show. She rocked it! We took the audience through an emotional journey, with incredibly powerful soundscapes of voices of real women and girls who are survivors of violence, mixed with the wonderful clothes designed by Bibi Russell and modeled beautifully during the runway show. It built to a crescendo of hope, of celebration, of strength and power and the next thing we knew, the whole audience had got up dancing in solidarity with the survivors. This wasn't planned and was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen...... I was shouting on the radio 'oh my god, oh my god...this is AMAZING!!'..... Such an outpouring of love and pride and solidarity from a room of over 400 people.

When the survivors came back for the encore, the audience stood and clapped and cheered..... and at the end many raced to the stage to take selfies and give hugs to the models. I stood back and watched, and it was the proudest moment of my whole career. We had given these incredible women a platform to share their story and they rocked it! They loved it too - that was very clear to see.

The response to the show was, and continues to be, incredible. It was picked up by the major broadcasters, fashion press, bloggers, lifestyle magazines etc etc... There are some of the links below.

I spent the next few days with the survivors and ActionAid Bangladesh team in London where they got to see the sights. We took them into Parliament and had some cute moments when I realised they had never seen a revolving door before, so getting through them became a comedic moment, with me having one arm in one section pushing and the other arm moving the door behind to get them through one at a time! We navigated security and then they all stopped still when we got to escalators - those crazy moving stairs which don't stop for you to get on!! I held Sonali's hand to show her how to get on, and everyone else followed our lead - it was a magical moment!

They went shopping in Primark (yes I know - but they wanted to!) and a woman came running up to Sonali to say she had seen her on the news and thought she was incredible! The power of broadcast.

I was incredibly sad (& exhausted!) by the time they were boarding the bus back to the airport on the Friday - and I could no longer hide my tears as I hugged them all goodbye. Sonali ran back off the bus when she saw I was upset and gave me the biggest and warmest hug ever. I was emotionally drained, but it truly was the biggest honour of my career to have met such incredible women and to have been a part of something which helped break the silence of violence against women and girls. We will continue to follow their stories and journey through life and will do our damnedest to ensure we stop the widespread violence perpetrated against women and girls by societies that do not respect equal rights and seek control over the lives of women and girls. For women and girls living in the places where ActionAid works, this kind of oppression is an injustice and one of the biggest drivers of poverty.

In a society where women are valued for their physical beauty, acid attacks have very clear intentions. Survivors - mainly women - are burned, disfigured and sometimes even blinded at the hands of relatives and strangers. The motive is control. Survivors can experience pain for the rest of their lives and it's common for women and girls to feel discouraged from speaking out against their attackers and seeking justice. Those who defy this silence display extraordinary courage and resilience.

I salute you Sonali, Ganga, Jasmen, NurunNahar, Safura, Nurun Nahar, Sadequr and Nur Islam........ you are all pretty bloody awesome! It was a great privilege.

Michelle x

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vb3yky/watch-the-acid-attack-survivors-fashion-show

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10155388873481939/

https://www.facebook.com/actionaiduk/videos/10159469499200521/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PksekPfyrKM&feature=youtu.be – 2 minute video of show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O96eTh3KnQ – FULL show (as live)

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/a12844890/acid-attack-victims-fashion-show-actionaid/

https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/acid-attack-survivor-fashion-show-144303

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/actionaid-survivors-runway_uk_59dde4f6e4b0b26332e80d24

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/bangladeshi-acid-attack-victims-dance-down-london-catwalk-in-act-of-defiance-against-violence-a3656016.html

https://www.facebook.com/ITVLondon/videos/10154998952547944/?hc_ref=ART-7f5b2vbSP8W3Fn_vXjWs5Q1QsHH9bewUq0iKYdBRehBDq86TBqFe_iyGMnlcs3s&pnref=story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-41590884/london-catwalk-for-bangladeshi-acid-victims?SThisFB