‘We deserve to feel part of fashion’

for all thepositive changes the fashion industry is making in terms of diversity, there are still groups of people who feel under-represented. Disabled models are rarely seen on catwalks, on billboards or in the pages of glossy magazines.

We want to change that, starting today. To celebrate our Big Fashion Issue, Grazia has brought together five women, among them an athlete, dance champion, designer and full-time model – all of whom have an impairment or condition. These women are smart, stylish and fashion-conscious. And all of them resent not seeing themselves represented in the industry they love.

Lack of visibility across the board, a lack of access to high-end clothes and shops themselves feels like a reminder that fashion ‘is not there to serve us’, says Mary Russell, who has dwarfism. ‘For so long we’ve had to alter and change clothes and our shopping habits,’ she says. Monique, who was born with brittle bone disease, adds, ‘ The industry needs educating – fast. I don’t want to be defined by my wheelchair and fashion helps people see me first.’

Her fellow models agree that fashion empowers them, but talk of the daily frustration of simply getting dressed: including buttons, zips, narrow trouser shapes, restrictive necklines – not to mention the difficulty of actually finding accessible shopping spots.

But there’s hope that change may be coming. Last year, designer Tommy Hilfiger launched the Adaptive clothing line, featuring items with magnetic buttons, one-handed zips and adjustable Velcro hemlines. ‘Tommy Adaptive’s mission is to be inclusive and empower people of all abilities to express themselves through fashion,’ the company said.

And earlier this year, American lingerie brand Aerie – which has stopped retouching any of its ad campaigns – featured women with a range of impairments and chronic conditions wearing their designs. The sight of women with polio, crutches or a Crohn’s disease colostomy bag clipped to their knickers sparked a powerful response on social media, with many people commenting on how refreshing it was to finally see their community represented in fashion.

It was a reminder that accessible fashion makes good business sense, too. Disabled shoppers are far from a niche market: nearly one in five people in England and Wales are disabled – that’s a market worth £249 billion.

So, why has progress only happened at a glacial pace? And how can first inclusion, and then the normalisation of disability in the fashion world, actually happen? Here, our five women, who are petitioning for change, have their say…

‘ I won’t wear a prosthetic arm because I know It’s only there so I can look “normal” to others’

Kelly model Knox, represented 34, from by MILK London, and is a was full-time one of the first disabled models to participate in London Fashion Week last year. She is mother to three-year-old son Jenson and was born with part of her left arm missing. To normal. me, my I was missing born with left arm it and was we always never used the word ‘disabled’ in my house growing up. It wasn’t until 2008, when I started modelling after winning Britain's Missing Top Model [a reality show where a disabled woman wins a magazine shoot], that I realised quite how much society viewed my body as ‘different’. I was determined never to wear a prosthetic arm because I know it’s only there so I can look ‘normal’ to others. But it was clearly a barrier; I signed to an agency after the competition but there were no other models others getting who looked picked like for me jobs and that I saw I knew I was capable of. I was surrounded by perfection and felt like I had no chance. I felt alone, ugly, lost and worthless.

It made me so angry that I decided I’d have to change perceptions of disabled people in fashion – to show we can be desirable, too. Growing up, I bought loads of magazines and never once saw myself represented. Today it must be even worse for young girls, because social media peddles this notion of ‘perfection’. If nondisabled girls are feeling the pressure to look a certain way, imagine how disabled girls, who can’t hide behind a filter, must feel scrolling through Instagram? 

imagine how disabled girls feel scrolling through instagram kelly knox