Indian hotel group The Leela (NSE:THELEELA) has backed a showcase for women survivors of acid and burn attacks at Milan Fashion Week, it announced on October 8.
This was the third year in a row The Leela has worked with Ara Lumière, the label founded by Kulsum Shadab Wahab, in Milan. The tie-up comes as the Brookfield-backed group marks 40 years in business and plans 10 more hotels across India and Dubai, its first market abroad. Travel + Leisure ranked The Leela the world’s second-best hotel brand in its 2026 World’s Best Awards, so a slot on the Milan calendar keeps it in front of the international luxury market it is now selling to.
“Luxury becomes more meaningful when it creates space for purpose, dialogue and impact,” said Preeti Makhija, General Manager of The Leela Palace New Delhi.
This year the two brought The Phoenix Circle to Milan with contemporary artist Raghava KK. Wahab founded The Phoenix Circle to help women who survived acid and burn attacks find work, livelihoods and creative outlets. Their event, PASSPORT, was a small gathering on identity and representation that set the artist’s work alongside work by women from the group.
“Fashion gives us a powerful language through which these stories can be seen and heard,” Wahab said.
Ara Lumière first drew international attention in 2022, when it won an award at the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards in Milan for designs made with acid attack survivors.
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts was founded in 1986 by Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair and is now owned by Canadian asset manager Brookfield. It describes itself as India’s largest institutionally owned pure-play luxury hotel brand. It runs 15 hotels and listed on the National Stock Exchange of India in June 2025 under its corporate name, Schloss Bangalore.