Fashion 4 Development’s annual “First Ladies Luncheon” is a magnet for powerful women, and Tuesday’s event at the Pierre Hotel was no exception, with Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani being an honoree.
Before the event started, the president, who sported a long-sleeve red dress with a red floral motif, spoke about how fashion can be a tool for diplomacy. She also praised the pop star Dua Lipa (who has citizenship in Kosovo, Albania and the U.K) for supporting Kosovo. Sandwiched between Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, the landlocked Balkan country is home to nearly 1.6 million residents. Born to ethnic Albanian parents, Osmani was elected as Kosovo’s sixth president in April 2021.
Although it is difficult to quantify how the 30-year-old, three-time Grammy winner has raised awareness about Kosovo, Osmani described Dua Lipa’s contribution “as immense and historic.” She said, “The world now knows about Kosovo, because of Dua Lipa. She has been raising her voice internationally. And in every interview and in every public appearance, she talks about her home and Kosovo, the place that she grew up [between the ages of 11 and 15] and how it is a place that continues to inspire her.”
In addition, the “Future Nostalgia” musician returns to Pristina, Kosovo, each year to headline and organize her Sunny Hill Festival. “We are immensely grateful for how she has managed to promote Kosovo, the young people of Kosovo and the talent that our country embodies.”
Launched in 2018, the annual summer event can have crowds that swell to 100,000 and the multiday gathering has helped to uplift the nation not just financially but also optimistically. Forty-five percent of the tickets are reportedly purchased by international concertgoers. Needless to say, Osmani goes with her family every year, and her daughters Anda Elisa Sadriu and Dua Tiara Sadriu “loved it,” she said.
Osmani also spoke enthusiastically about Kosovo’s fashion designers, and she said that she hopes that the global exposure about their talents will increase.
Asked about an everyday sustainable practice that others could adopt, Osmani praised Kosovo’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Her tip is to be conscientious about how we use water so that everyone can have access to clean drinking water. “Heavily” investing in sustainable energy is another priority for her home country, which has depended on coal energy for decades, she said.
Ironically, while the Kosovo president was attending F4D’s “First Ladies Luncheon,” her husband Prindon Sadriu was attending “the other first lady’s lunch” that was being hosted by First Lady Melania Trump in honor of the UN’s General Assembly. “I am not the first lady but I have a first gentleman,” she said.
Asked by a reporter about women that she admires, Osmani said, “There are a lot of women around the world who have inspired me with the work that I do every single day. But I would like to note the women of Kosovo as a collective — the women who have led our peaceful resistance; women who have fought during our liberation struggle; women who have negotiated our peace that we enjoy today, and women who are leaving the country in liberation.”