Fashion Accessibility Charrette Recap
Epicenter Community had such a wonderful time at out Fashion Accessibility Charrette at the MFA this past Wednesday. Our mission with this event was to create a space and platform for authentic discussion centered around the accessibility of fashion for the disability community. This Charrette served as a precusor to our Fashion Accessibility Project Fashion Show going down next year on February 11th.
President Malia Lazu talked briefly about what Epicenter is seeking to accomplish with the Fashion Accessibility Project before handing over the event to Keith Jones and Heather Watkins who each spoke on their own difficulties finding accessible clothing and the multitude of problems when shopping with a disability. Other attendees pointed out that sometimes aisles are too narrow in stores and accessible dressing rooms aren’t available when they should be.
The discussion then turned to the question of fashion design and how clothing can be difficult for persons with disabilities in ways that able bodied people don’t even think about. For example, buttons can be a hassle for someone with muscular dystrophy and shoes with sewn-in inserts can be near impossible to get on for someone who wears leg braces.
After talking about the ways in which fashion needs to adapt for the 1 Billion people living in this world with some form of disability, we broke into two different groups. One group sat down with Arts Emerson (who will be helping us tremendously with the production and venue for the fashion show in February) and talked with them about all the ways in which the fashion show can be accessible to everyone involved.
This included discussions about entryways, travel to and from the event, whether or not to have the fashion show on a runway and much more. The other group met with designers Chynna Pope and KREYOL to discuss how fashion can be more inclusive and to give the designers a better idea of how to beautifully dress people with disabilities. This conversation really allowed the designers to think about creating clothing from another perspective.
Overall, Epicenter is so grateful for everyone involved in the Charrette. This event was such a genuine and authentic learning experience for us as able bodied people and really forced us to think of questions and solutions we may not have thought of before. It demanded that we take a stark look at our privilege. We can’t wait to continue to grow with the help of our wonderful friends from the disability community and we can’t wait to see all of the beautiful designs and beautiful people at the Fashion Accessibility Fashion Show in February!
Another huge thanks to our partners:
Keith Jones from Soul Touching Experience, Jessica Mayer from JB Access, Eli Wolff from Power of Sport, Aysha Upchurch and Nicole Agois from VSA, Derrick Dominique from Multicultural Independent Living Center, Marian Brown from Arts Connection International, Jay Calderin from Boston Fashion Week/ Fashion Guru :), Mindy Scheier from Runway of Dreams, Grace Teo from Open Style Lab and Nicole Olusanya from ArtsEmerson
