Designer Shantall Lacayo withdraws from Miami Fashion Week amid controversy

Miami Fashion Week kicks off amid controversy as angry Nicaraguans and civil right activists demanded the cancellation of one of the fashion shows. 

Comments demanding action flooded the event’s social sites with outrage over Nicaraguan designer Shantall Lacayo’s participation at the event. Anger stems from the designer’s relationship with Camila Ortega Murillo, who was rumored to attend and is the daughter of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Both are involved with Nicaragua Diseña, an organization subsidized by the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute which promotes designers. 

Nicaragua is on its sixth week of civil unrest as young adults protest President Ortega’s regime. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at least 76 people have been killed and nearly 900 were injured making it the largest protest Nicaragua’s had since its civil war in 1990.

BBC News: The photos that explain Nicaragua's crisis

On MIAFW’s Facebook page, numerous people bombed the event’s rating by giving it one star and explaining their reasoning. Some fault the designer by association with a corrupt regime, and therefore fault MIAFW as well, while others point out the irony of these ladies enjoying freedoms in the United States while Nicaragua is oppressed.

 As of now, the Facebook page has reached 573 one-star ratings.

Also, a protest titled Blood Collection was planned via Twitter and Facebook page Nicas Unidos en Miami.  

 

Lacayo announced her withdrawal from MIAFW by writing in an Instagram post, "I have reflected about my participation in the Miami Fashion Week 2018 and the confusions that have been generated around me. Due to the situation that my country is living in Nicaragua and before the wave of unfounded speculations, I decided, together with my team, to cancel my participation to which I had been invited to present my 2019 resort collection."

Since her decision to withdraw, Lacayo’s social media profiles have been switched to private and protesters are debating attendance at the event.

 

MIAFW has barely addressed the issue apart from confirming Lacayo’s withdrawal from the event. Tonight is kickoff night at the Brickell City Centre with a party at Saks Fifth Avenue followed by a runway show by Venezuelan designer Oscar Carvallo.

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