Civil rights organisation Rise hosted a show at New York Fashion Show with a focus on sexual assault survivors. The show, first of its kind, featured survivors walking down a ramp set up in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Arts, New York along with activists.
The show was opened by actor and former NFL player Terry Crews, a survivor himself, in a black shiny suit and knee-high boots. The show also featured actor Kelly Marie Tran in a blue jumpsuit and glittering boots; artist and author of “Know My Name,” Chanel Miller, also a sexual assault survivor, strutted out in a striped floor-length wrap dress. The participants also included Jessica Long, a Rise volunteer who was drugged and assaulted several years ago on an overseas work trip. She said, “We’re taking back something that was taken away from us—our self-confidence.” Long is currently a managing director at an investment firm in New York. The survivors were dressed by designers including Chloé, Diane von Furstenberg and Veronica Beard, and walked down the ramp to soundtracks by Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande.
Image Source: nytimes.com, harpersbazaar.com
The show host, Rise, aimed at creating a space for survivors that celebrated not just surviving, but thriving, as explained by Amanda Nguyen, founder of the organization and a rape survivor. Speaking about the idea behind the show, Nguyen said, “The words ‘What were you wearing?’ or ‘What are you wearing?’ in the fashion context are fun. It’s literally saying, ‘I love the choices that you made.’ But years ago, when I was raped, I had to answer the same question and it was meant to be shameful. It’s victim-blaming—it was meant to say, ‘You incurred the violence against you because of the outfit you were wearing.’”
Image Source: harpersbazaar.com
Nguyen’s outfit was a white Áo Dài—a traditional Vietnamese dress covered in text from the federal Survivors' Bill of Rights, a legislation that was proposed by Ms Nguyen in 2016 and was signed into law by President Barack Obama.