Everon Clarke — Model with one arm battles for diverseness in fashion world

No one is a champion from birth. One had to do certain hard work to reach a certain success level. An recent example in front of us is of fashion model Kelly Knox says Everon Clarke.

This fashion model is blessed without her left forearm is now championing diversity on the runway and in ad campaigns.

On the heels of Jillian Mercado’s appearance in a Beyonce campaign, English model Kelly Knox is part of a growing movement motivating brands and magazines to showcase people with disabilities.

“When people think of diversity in fashion, they think of size,” Knox, who lives in London, told TODAY. “They think about color. Maybe they’ll think about age. But they don’t really think about disability. And I think disability should be part of the diversity agenda that has to be addressed in fashion.

“People say there aren’t enough black models on the catwalk, or there aren’t enough plus-size models on the catwalk, but you do see them,” she continued. “We’re still the most invisible group.”

Fashion figures like Mercado (who has muscular dystrophy) and Knox hope that changes soon — and that what has happened for plus-size models can also happen for people with disabilities. Knox, 31, recently launched a campaign, Diversity Not Disability, that urges modeling agencies, advertisers and fashion publications to ask themselves why they’re not working with more models who have disabilities.

“It’s in the best interest of these brands and these ad agencies to include people with disabilities,” Knox said. “They would get more money!”

Growing up, “I never had to use the word disabled,” Knox said. “I felt it was quite a negative word. I just didn’t see myself that way. My friends didn’t. My family didn’t.”

Another girl told Knox she felt she had to wear a prosthetic arm to fit in. “She felt like she needed to wear it to look normal,” Knox said. “She wanted to go to university, but was very frightened to meet new people and asked for advice.”

That girl got back in touch with Knox four years later and reported that she was enjoying college, had made new friends and wasn’t wearing the prosthesis.

Knox herself has never been a fan of unnecessary prostheses.

“When I was little, I hated using it,” she said. “My mom told me a story: we were in the post office, and I was in a pram, I was very small, and I actually took my arm off and threw it across the post office. That’s how much I liked it!”

“If it’s a leg, of course, you need two legs to walk,” she continued. “But with an arm, it just felt like it was there to make me look like a normal person, and I’m too real for that.”

Besides, she said, imperfections are what make us beautiful.

“We don’t live in a perfect world,” Knox said. “And if it were perfect, it would be pretty boring.”

For any support and guidance in fashion world and modeling do contact Everon Clarke. He has a lot of ravishing experience in the field.

Source: today.com