‘A force to be reckoned with,’ she finally made it to the fashion runway
Disability activist fulfils her lifelong dream of modelling in virtual show
As a teenager in the 1990s, Melissa Blake was interested in fashion.
Unfortunately, fashion wasn’t much interested in her.
Blake, who has a genetic bone and muscle disorder and stands a little under four feet tall, couldn’t find jeans or dresses in her size. Paging through Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines, she didn’t see a single person who looked like her. “That would have been a game-changer for me,” said Blake, a freelance writer and disability activist who lives in DeKalb, Ill.
“When you’re a teenager — disabled or not — you deal with issues of self-confidence and self-esteem. If I had seen someone who looked like me, I would have felt really seen.”
Now, Blake, 39, is a fashion role model herself.
Last week, she appeared in the annual Runway of Dreams fashion show featuring clothes designed for people with disabilities. The show, while virtual this year, was part of the glitz and glamour of New York Fashion Week, and included appearances by designer Tommy Hilfiger, Paralympics gold medallist snowboarder Brenna Huckaby, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and YouTubers Shane and Hannah Burcaw.
Blake was among 24 people worldwide who were chosen to model in last week’s show, which can be viewed on YouTube.
“What I love so much about Melissa is that she is just a force to be reckoned with and is unapologetic about what the world should look like,” said Runway of Dreams founder and CEO Mindy Scheier.
“Being able to put Melissa in arguably the biggest fashion event of the year just hit home how important it is to expand who consumers are in the fashion industry, or who should be on runways, or what we’re really representing in the word ‘model,’ ” Scheier said. Blake, who has FreemanSheldon syndrome, had 26 surgeries before age 17. She can walk short distances with difficulty and uses an electric scooter. She has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, as well as her teen favourites, Glamour and Cosmopolitan. She’s also known for a viral post on Twitter last year, in which she responded to trolls who criticized her appearance.
Blake, who describes herself as a “down-home Carrie Bradshaw,”
met the insults with cheerful defiance, posting multiple selfies.
One of her posts got more than 300,000 likes, with fans calling Blake a goddess, a bad (expletive) and a powerful woman. One issued a “new super-hero alert,” and another offered six (emoji) trophies with a fiery “Work it girl! YOU IZ FAB.”
Blake responded similarly this month when parents on TikTok
posted videos in which they pranked their kids by displaying images of disabled people and saying “this is your new teacher.” Blake was among the disabled people mocked in the videos, according to the Boston NPR news station WBUR-FM.
“I feel like every time, you know, I post a selfie or I share something about my life as a disabled woman, I feel like that is representation that is going to really combat this ableism,” Blake told WBUR.
For the virtual Runway of Dreams show, Blake’s sister filmed her riding her scooter on a quiet street, dressed in a graphic T-shirt, capris and an oversize maroon vest with a fluffy fur collar, all by Zappos Adaptive.
“It was a little scary, but they were really good to work with,” Blake said of the Runway team. “They walked me through every step.”
Blake said she has always been interested in fashion and it was a thrill to be in the show.
Often, when we think of access for disabled people, we think of buildings and employment, she said. But it’s also important to have access to what’s fun and enjoyable.
“Fashion isn’t going to solve all the world’s problems. But I think when disabled people are included, it sends a message that we deserve a seat at the table in all aspects of life, frivolous or not.”