When fashion includes disability

By werdt11/12/2022465 Views

The faces are soft and slightly made up.The clothes are sober and in a romantic style."Defend inclusion.Today for tomorrow.The advertising campaign and its committed slogan, as we often see in the street, is not a new initiative of the Ministry of Solidarity and Health.It's Zalando.com, leader in online sales in Europe, which is behind this pub campaign unveiled at the end of March.Placed posters all over France have aroused a lot of reactions on social networks and in the press, and not only because of their remarkable mesage: Neele, one of the models staged, is not aTop-model like the others.The young woman carries trisomy 21, and lives in a home.A month before Zalando ensures the buzz, a blanket of Elle Mexico attracted attention, displaying Ellie Goldstein, a young model also reached Down's syndrome.A year earlier, the very media director of Gucci's creation, Alessandro Michele, personally chose Ellie to embody the image of the L’On.Seventies chasuble dress, powdery complexion, smooth hair...In the preamble to the campaign signed by David PD Hyde in collaboration with "Vogue" Italy, the designer explained: "This mascara aims to be worn by a true person who uses makeup to tell his version of freedom.In a world where beauty has once been smoothed, sanitized, calibrated, the Italian designer dares to challenge the codes.He normalizes disability.Better: it makes it glamorous.

"Today, the notion of beauty includes behavior, resilience, the message that the body conveys"

In any case, this is what the modeling agency Zebedee Management wants.Founded in 2017 by Laura Johnson and Zoe Proctor, from the observation that invisibility and lack of pedagogy prevent disabled people from aspiring to a normal life, the company fights to deconstruct stereotypes.Her credo: you can be in a wheelchair and make the cover of her or "Marie Claire".Be a bearer of Down's syndrome and being an ambassador of Gucci."For a long time, the handicap was treated with reluctance because the brands did not know how to approach it.There was a lot of ignorance, of prejudices.People faced with a physical or intellectual handicap were put aside.Thus their body was stigmatized, precipitating a whole series of preconceived ideas which resisted the objective facts.Fortunately, today the notion of beauty includes behavior, resilience, the message that the body conveys.Which led to the hatching of physics with different beauty canons.Because we can be beautiful in different ways!»Analyze the two co -founders with enthusiasm.And with the weight played by social networks, the phenomenon is amplified.We could quote the actress and model suffering from muscular dystrophy Jillian Mercado, invited to parade in The Blonds brand.Like the athlete Mary Russell, suffering from Nanism and Cover-Girl for "Grazia" UK.Passing through Bebe Vio, Paralympic champion and ambassador of the Dior and Moncler brands.Or the well-known Winnie Harlow, suffering from vitiligo and parading on the podiums of the greatest with the most famous top-models.In 2015, New York Fashion Week went so far as to exhort the creators to show more diversity in the castings: "Be open.American fashion can give an example, "advocated the CFDA (advice of American fashion designers) on Twitter.In the wake of the positive body movement, this is the sector that begins a significant social and cultural change-element.To the point of guaranteeing lasting visibility to people with disabilities?

"These extraordinary campaigns have the merit of lifting a taboo: they advance mentalities.Fashion has always been a avant-garde environment »

Quand la mode inclut le handicap

Between the evocation of a phenomenon and the criticisms of "Woke Washing", denouncing an opportunistic approach, behind the scenes, the observers are skeptical.Many glide on the fact that a large number of so-called committed brands have no intention to transform the environment.As if this craze was only passenger.As if fashion was a conservative environment, condemned to stay frozen in his smooth image on glossy paper.A common place too easy?According to Sonia Devillers, the media columnist of France Inter, “we are still very far from the trivialization of disability.The fact remains that in this universe where everything is about image and representation, standards and desires, bodies have varied.The thinness, young, white, heterosexual is still largely dominant, but skin colors, weight, ages, faces, hair, genre, fashion plays today with everything and with everyone, "she analyzed in her25Mars Chronicle.Katia Dayan, who founded the day butterflies to support companies in their CSR strategy (social responsibility), shares the same opinion: "These extraordinary communication campaigns have the merit of lifting a taboo: they advance mentalities.Fashion has always been a avant-garde environment.And even if the gap between the message she wants to give and her attitude, far from being impeccable, is important, everyone knows that the transition will be progressive.Now, sometimes, a photo is enough.In fact, fashion is no longer reduced only to pretty clothes dedicated to being worn.She must be a bearer of messages.Speak.To commit.

This awareness also involves the development of "adaptive wear".In other words, by a modular ready-to-wear according to the needs of each.According to an article in the "New York Times" in July 2020, there are more lines of clothing for dogs than for disabled.An observation so bitter that the American daily titled his paper: "Disabled People Love Clothes Too" (Invalids people also like fashion).More style and more creativity: these are the claims.Desiderata heard by Tommy Hilfiger, who, since 2017, introduces the Wear adaptive in his collections.The manifesto which defines the contours is explicit to say the least: “Each piece is of the same quality, the same fabric and the same basic design as that which we offer in our other collections.Adaptations are discreet, with functional modifications that facilitate clothing and allow children and disabled adults to become autonomous and feel good about their skin."The initiative was also adopted by Kiabi, for whom fashion is not just a consideration of practicality."With the Human line, we did not want to make clothes to further stigmatize disabled children.Our mission is to offer happiness to wear for everyone, "said Mathilde Devambez, product manager at the French brand.

In order for the reflection to continue, we can also count on the young guard, whose work shines by its exemplarity.The case of Flora Fixy and Julia Dessirier from the Fandd studio, who, following their meeting with the hearing photographer Kate Fichard, imagined hearing prostheses like listening jewelry.With their project which uninforces the handicap, they won the votes of the Jury Accessories of the Hyères Festival in 2018 and, at the end of 2020, that of the inclusive design price of E Yes on Talent and APF France Handicap."Our role as designers is that of promoting self -acceptance.These jewelry is a manifesto of optimism, a formidable political tool combining technology, sharp aesthetics and functionality, "defends the duo capable of transforming a medical device into a fashion accessory to exhibit proudly.Progressive advertising campaigns in plural collections, innovative fashion shoots and daring projects, inclusiveness has more than one face.Finally, for Serge Widawski, director of APF Entreprises*, "she must rhyme with professional integration.Starting with the hiring of people with reduced mobility or with an intellectual disability, the sponsorship of associations...So many concrete measures that change the place in our society with disabilities ”.Since 2019, the big fashion houses (Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Burberry...) have a CDO (Chief Diversity Officer) in order to promote the inclusion of minorities in this sector."The emergence of this new profession must not forget the social aspect, which is crucial.Especially when you know that, in France, out of eleven million people recognized with disabilities, only three million are active, "concludes the specialist.To motivate the sector, three years ago, the association was challenged to open a dozen establishments in France, recruiting and forming two hundred and fifty people with disabilities in textile and thehigh leather goods.Consecration, since the beginning of June, these workshops have supported fifteen young creators in the launch of their brand in collaboration with the barracks, the responsible fashion incubator supported by the Paris City Hall.While waiting to win the Grail: that a luxury house joins its name to that of APF France Handicap.Hearing...

Ellie, top symbol

Crossed polka dot dress, slightly made -up eyes, solar smile: Ellie radiates."I love fashion, to be in front of the camera," says this 19 year old young woman with a burst of laughter.In England, Ellie Goldstein is a star.A mannequin that poses for the most influential brands, covers a magazine like "Allure" or "Glamor".His face is known by the whole population.Represented by the agency Zebedee Management, at 15 she was already displayed on the advertising panels of Nike and Vodafone.And abroad too she shines.Convinced that we have to break taboos on disability and show that it is part of our life, Ellie wants to do battle.She dreams of cinema, theater, to write a book.And shoot with the most famous, like this photo series that she prepares with "Vogue" Italy.When asked what her secret is, she says she keep a positive look at life: "Stay yourself and never abandon your hopes and dreams, no matter what we are.Be perfect in your imperfection."And his more chromosome does not prevent him from seeing big:" Can be one day that Down's syndrome is not an obstacle.»Without artifice, Ellie demystifies disability and fully assumes her role as a model in the first sense of the term.On Instagram, she collects the likes, and the followers welcome her success."Can this become the standard?"Comment on a fan."I can only validate," replies another.Proof that the Ellie effect goes beyond fashion currents.

* The Branch Emploi of APF France Handicap.