Unobstructed fashion

As a fashion designer, I stand up for equality in fashion. My design philosophy focuses on inclusivity, enabling everyone to participate in fashion without boundaries. I believe it is my calling to create fashion that goes beyond stereotypes and tears down the boundaries, making fashion accessible for everyone - my collections are inclusive design projects, sets of garments primarily designed for wheelchair users and people living with physical disabilities.

My Mother has been diagnosed with Multiply Sclerosis and uses wheelchair to move around. She inspires me to design for all bodies and is the driving force behind all my work. Experiencing her difficulties with dressing herself, most current designers are not understanding of the ways to satisfy the additional clothing needs of a people living with physical disabilities. It is my connection my mother, and my deep understanding of her needs that shape my choices from design, construction, to how I communicate my ideas. The main problems facing the industry are the cut or the style of the garments. The cut of the most existing styles usually create barriers for people living with physical disabilities because they are produced for a standard sized, able-bodied individual. The sedentary position requires different cutlines providing comfort for its wearer. While clothing made for wheelchair users exists — these mostly focus on the functionality and not fashionable. Often individual style is sacrificed in favour of functionality — styles are often conformative, forcing wearers to a pre-determined style of dress that limits expression.

I designed the first inclusive design for my Mother. After I saw how much properly designed clothes help and mean for her I became really enthusiastic — deciding to continue researching and co-designing with people living with disabilities. A wheelchair user friend of mine, Katalin mentioned she would really like to see sexy accessible clothing — a category of clothing that is very limited in the market today. After engaging in conversation with other wheelchair users, I found out this is a collectively desired area of clothing. It shouldn’t be just functional, easy-to-wear, but it should make the wearer feel sexy independent, and liberated.

I believe a fashion designer has the power to make positive changes and use their influence to voice their opinions that they passionate about and to start important conversations. A fashion designer has to properly communicate their ideas to bring attention to controversial subjects and the lack of equal opportunities in fashion in our contemporary industry. Fashion shouldn’t add to the marginalisation of its wearers by not being accessible for all abilities. I strongly believe everybody has the right to enjoy fashion and feel sexy and confident through what they wear.

We never really hear the words disability and sexiness together. Sexuality is part of everyones personality.Therefore the basis of this project is founded upon the concept of transforming the image of physically disabled persons into being powerful and sexy. Lingerie is made to contour the body — I believe it has the ability to empower the wearer. I design accessible lingerie that responds to the human form and the movements involved in the process of dressing with limited mobility. I develop the cutlines of the designs by choreographing the act of dressing up and down in a sedentary position and keeping in mind my mother’s and my friends’ reduced mobility. To make the prototypes my scissors are the most important tools. I use magnetic closures to make the donning and doffing as easy as possible.

With carefully considered cutlines, built-in dressing aids and the flexibility of shapes in seated position, my aim is to create garments that are fully functional to provide comfort and autonomy for the wearer — but at the same time creating something that is aesthetically pleasing. The modular construction allows the adaptable pieces to be worn layered in various ways with a sustainable approach.

I also focus on creating immersive environments around the accessible pieces – including the wheelchair. My aim with this project was to create environments which invite the viewer to play. Including the wheelchair as a part of the design process is very important - It acts as a liberation for a person living with physical disabilities as it’s possible to move around with it. It is a beautiful thing, and I want to show it with my designs. It makes me happy to use my passion to help others, explore my creative side, and push the boundaries of what fashion could be — all inspired by my mother and her story.