NEW YORK FASHION WEEK The fashion industry is coming under steady pressure to widen the spectrum of beauty ideals.
Ad campaigns have called out unrealistic beauty standards,
major department stores are adding plus-size mannequins, and New York's recent
child model laws are designed to protect all models under the age of 18 from exploitation.
On February 6th, the first day of
New York Fashion Week, one designer in particular seemed to understand.
Carrie Hammer decided to shake things up and feature
Dr. Danielle Sheypuk,
MS. Wheelchair New York as
the first person to "walk" the runway in a wheelchair. "I made the
decision to cast 'role models' not runway models,'" Hammer said. "It is
so important to me that women have positive body image and are empowered
in work and their life. My line makes dresses to fit women. We don't
make dresses that women need to fit into.” Hammer said during her show
everyone had "chills" and "left very empowered.”
Sheypuk,
who has used a wheel chair since age 2, said she has a longstanding
interest in designer clothing. But there was always something missing:
enough role models. "People with disabilities need to see it. It's a
confidence booster. It's like, 'if she's doing it, I can do it. Who
cares about my wheelchair?’” Sheypuk said she was thrilled to be on the
runway and felt natural and confident. "I was just another model in a
show, and that's exactly what I wanted.” But there's still plenty of
room for more inclusion, said Danielle Sheypuk, Ms. Wheelchair New York
2012.” People with disabilities are an untapped consumer market in terms
of fashion," said Sheypuk, a clinical psychologist in New York. "We
read the magazines, shop in stores, but nothing is ever pitched to us.”
Sheypuk has more fashion-world engagements ahead. She is currently
involved in the Raw Beauty Project where high-profile
photographers are shooting sexually alluring images of women with
disabilities. The project can be seen online and will be exhibited in a
Manhattan gallery in the spring, 2014.
Other designers are also starting to reach out to people who love shopping and fashion, but feel excluded. On Feb. 9
DKNY also used "real people" on the runway alongside professional models. And in January,
Diesel,
the Italian ready-to-wear design company, rocked the industry with its
"We Are Connected" campaign, featuring 26-year-old Jillian Mercado in
one ad. "Just because we have a disability doesn't mean we have to stay
home and hide away from the world,” said Mercado, executive editorial
director of
WeTheUrban Magazine, a fashion magazine based in New York. In September 2013, beer giant
Guinness
featured a group of men in wheelchairs in one of their commercials. A
couple of months later, for the United Nations' International Day of
Persons with Disabilities, the advocacy group Pro Infirmis teamed up
with
Bahnhofstrasse
(the upscale shopping street in Zurich, Switzerland) to display
mannequins who were modeled on real-life people with disabilities. An
emotional
video of each person seeing him/herself as a mannequin in an actual store window quickly went viral.
"The
fashion industry was a hard nut to crack . . . but I think there is
progress," Sheypuk said, referring to the growing celebration of diverse
ethnicities, sizes and shapes. "It's just time to include people with
disabilities. It's 2014."
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