Lupita Nyong’o adorns breastplate by Misha Japanwala at Tony Awards

KARACHI: If there is one thing that has been set in stone, it is that Pakistanis are making big waves on international platforms. From our actors and singers, to our fashion designers and artists, each one of these talents have proven that Pakistan deserves the global recognition that it is finally getting. That includes the Tony Awards 2023. Over the weekend, Lupita Nyong’o hit the red carpet in a unique outfit as she wore a Misha Japanwala breastplate as a top!

She took to social media to share pictures of her outfit which she captioned, “A shameless out of body experience. Honored, humbled, strengthened and energized to don this breastplate created by @mishajapanwala, which she cast and molded of my body.” Lupita Nyong’o also took the opportunity to shed light on her designer choice for the Tony Awards and introduced Japanwala as, “a Pakistani artist and fashion designer, whose work is rooted in the rejection and deconstruction of external shame attached to one’s body. In her artistic process, she creates a realistic and true record of a person’s body as an act of resistance and celebration, and an insistence on being allowed to exist freely in our bodies.”

Quoting Misha Japanwala, Nyong’o shed light on the concept behind the breastplates, “The word ‘beghairat’ (translation: shameless) has become an anchor in my practice; thousands of people have used it to describe me and the work I create, in an effort to insult and shame me into silence. In reclaiming the word and understanding that the rejection of others’ narrow definitions of shame is one of the most powerful tools for liberation, I’ve come to deeply appreciate and respect what living a life of shamelessness truly means.” The breastplates have no changes made to them, “I change nothing about the body and how it looks. I think that act of surrendering and allowing our bodies to simply be, is such a beautiful and powerful thing.”

Misha Japanwala’s work, Beghairati Ki Nishaani: Traces of Shamelessness, is on view in New York City until July 30th.