Is Wheelchair Representation Finally Happening Within the Fashion Industry?
Is Wheelchair Representation Finally Happening Within the Fashion Industry?
According to The World Health Organisation, 15 percent of people have some kind of disability, forming the world’s largest minority community. Of these, two percent to four percent experience significant difficulties in functioning. But despite representing a market value of $300 billion in 2021, with a global growth outlook of 16% by 2024, adaptive clothing isn’t as visible as you would expect – especially within the luxury sector.
Adaptive fashion isn’t a new invention. Just as disabled people have always been within our society, so has clothing suited to their needs, and the 1950s was a decade that put those needs at the forefront of the consumer. In the US, 30% of the top designers made clothing for disabled people, while from 1955 to 1976, brands made clothes for the Functional Fashions Line, explicitly designed to suit the needs of disabled bodies. Helen Cookman (who was hard of hearing) pioneered the movement, and was known for making coats that had extra pockets for her hearing aids. She also co-authored Functional Fashions for the Physically Handicapped, which showed what adjustments could be made to clothes to make them easier for people with physical disabilities to wear. Despite a rise in popularity in the ‘80s (which many remark often missed the brief on style), adaptive clothing stayed out of the mainstream for decades.
Wheelchair model representation started in 2014, when Dr. Danielle Sheypuk became the first ever woman in a wheelchair to feature on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week. The next memorable moment happened in 2021 when disabled and trans model Aaron Rose Phillip made her debut on the Moschino SS22 runway, with only a few examples of wheelchair-bound models appearing on runways within those seven years.
For SS23, there were more wheelchair-bound models at the New York and London shows from the likes of Collina Strada and Sinéad O’Dwyer – the latter included two wheelchair users as part of her show. This is what disabled model, Caprice-Kwai Ambersley, would like to see more of, she explains.
“I think the luxury fashion industry should instil genuine representation by having more than one disabled person on the catwalk! Include people with various disabilities, and not just one token model. I think it’s important for brands to be working with disabled people on the catwalk, but also behind the scenes too. Include us everywhere, because we deserve to be a part of the conversation.” Despite having a positive experience working within fashion overall, she notes “the lack of accessibility” that she’s experienced, which often stems from ableist thinking surrounding mobile accessibility – a team unaware of a lack of disabled access to a shoot location until it’s too late, for example. Representation and true inclusivity means the fashion industry can’t work and think in the way it always has.
For wheelchair users, representation seems to be slowly getting better – but that doesn’t do anything for the wild range of disabilities there are and how they’re reflected in the industry. There’s always more that can be done, even if its happening one slow step at a time.
