How Amanda Nguyen Uses Fashion to Empower Survivors of Sexual Assault

While I’ve always tried to incorporate my passions into my work, I had never done anything that really tapped into my love of fashion on a large scale. So I, along with my teammates at Rise, decided to organize a runway event that showcased just how little the act of sexual violence is connected to what a survivor was wearing. We organized its first iteration in 2021 at the Museum of Modern Art and invited survivors from all over the world to walk the runway in designer clothes. Dior, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Veronica Beard, and a number of other brands lent a range of outfits, from streetwear to formal dresses, to support our cause.

Walking down the runway in a custom dress designed by artists Suzanne McClelland and Alix Pearlstein and adorned with the text of the Survivors’ Bill of Rights, I was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions. Alongside me were other survivors and allies, while ambassadors from the United Nations, diplomats, policymakers, and influencers all came to watch. We were hoping to garner their attention and, more importantly, inspire their empathy. Finding the courage to confront my trauma publicly took immense strength. But in that moment, I was not alone.

The fashion show is now an event that we hold each year during New York Fashion Week. It also inspired us to create a traveling exhibit titled “What Were You Wearing?,” which made its debut at UN headquarters in 2022. It features 103 mannequins representing the 1.3 billion survivors of sexual violence worldwide. Among those 103, five outfits, including my own, came directly from the closets of survivors who shared their stories with us. Some of the most heartbreaking outfits include a baby’s diaper, a military uniform, and a child’s bathing suit. The goal was to prove that there is no way to differentiate between the outfit worn by a survivor and the outfits not worn by survivors; what we were wearing truly did not matter, and we should shift our blame and our focus on perpetrators and on their accountability. The exhibition has since been displayed at our fashion show, at the European Parliament in Brussels, and at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

In September 2022, the exhibit still decorated the UN headquarters when the Universal Survivor Bill of Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly. This landmark resolution was six years in the making. It outlined and codified a set of basic steps for countries to take to support and safeguard the rights of survivors of sexual assault. It mandates that member states establish gender-responsive legal mechanisms for protecting survivors, that judicial and prevention systems be expanded and invested in, and that survivors have direct access to the justice system after their assault.

The passage of this UN resolution is a significant victory, but it is just the beginning. The next phase of our fight is writing a treaty for universal jurisdiction on rape, ensuring that rapists cannot evade justice by fleeing to another country. We’ve begun drafting this treaty and sharing it with United Nations member states and the World Health Organization, and we plan to introduce it next year.

What I wear has always been a conscious choice, even outside of my work with Rise. I also work as a bioastronautics researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences. During my college days at Harvard, I wore comfortable dresses to feel at home; at NASA, I wore polos commemorating past missions to feel that important legacy; and while testifying in front of the Senate, I chose to wear strong red dresses to remind me of my power. Now, every day I choose an outfit that projects how I want to feel, whether it’s a sharp suit for a political meeting or a Vietnamese áo dài to channel my heritage. This year, as part of Space for Humanity’s Citizen Astronaut Program, I will become the first Vietnamese woman to ever go to space. That confidence in what we are wearing gives us the ability to keep fighting for our dreams, and it has allowed me to accomplish mine.