disability

Disability: Life Is Not A Cover Page

/ Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Are magazine covers a tool for making change?


Put disability on a cover page, and the life of disabled people improves. But from fashion magazines’ glossy covers to real life, does anything change for those with disabilities? Is accessibility something they arrange when setting up locations, workplaces, or events?

Inclusion & diversity in fashion


British Vogue is one of the most committed magazines on “Reframing Fashion.”

“We want to carry this on and for people to see Vogue is taking that step… We’re not perfect, but we have to create this welcoming space.”
Edward Ennigful – European editorial director of Vogue.

Indeed, considering the positive comments on covers featuring disabled models, it seems change is real and tangible.

Our experience on disability


Our viewpoint is a little different. We understand that a diverse representation may help people broaden their views. But we aren’t satisfied with it. Specifically, we would exchange cover pages with real accessibility on a daily basis to shops, events, locations and so on.

Allow us to explain. I, myself, Ro, writing this post, am a wheelchair user. A few weeks ago, Cri and I attended Milano Design Week. Apart from very few exceptions, most places weren’t accessible. Indeed, we had to exclude some venues a priori. In many other places, I had to stand up and climb one to three steps. Cri had to lift the wheelchair, carry it inside, and then I could sit again.

Thank goodness, I can do that. But what about those who cannot? Those who use electric wheelchairs?

Disability and real accessibility in fashion


Of course, it works the same in fashion showrooms. In the fashion industry, people love to discuss inclusion and diversity on social media, advertising or cover pages, but they do the opposite in everyday life.

I had a disgraceful experience with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana a few years ago. “Because of Covid”, so they said, I couldn’t access an event they organized. The invitation was for one person, but being in a wheelchair, I needed plus one to help me. They said no. But Camera Moda proudly has a Diversity and Inclusion section! What do they not understand about disability? (You can read the full story here).

What’s the message? Disability is the subject of the cover pages, but please, don’t show up at events? Please, don’t go shopping? Don’t visit a museum or take a train?

What are we talking about showing disability on cover pages? Marketing? That’s what it is. In fact, diversity and inclusion are some of those magnificent fashion bullshit the industry loves. Just don’t show up in real life!

Disability: Life Is Not A Cover Page Read More »

Wheelchair? Please, Don’t Come!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana: fashion, disability and non-inclusion in the industry


Inclusion and diversity are topics to which we are particularly sensitive. However, we had to overcome a certain discomfort to share this story with you. But if we want to make a change, we have to open up on this matter.

We acknowledged that Camera Nazionale Della Moda Italiana holds an event, at its second edition, named: “Including Diversity”.

Specifically, on Sept 20th – today – Camera Moda will address diversity and inclusion to promote both matters within the Italian fashion system. If you happen to read about it, you might think the intent is noble and the words powerful. Everything seems on point.

Yes, agreed. If only words truly aligned with actions.

As we wrote in one of our recent posts, inclusion and diversity are much-discussed topics in the fashion field. We call them “the fashion bullshit” – because the smell of marketing is so strong. 

Inclusion and diversity: facts vs words 


After being diagnosed with a degenerative disease, I can report a much different reality about fashion and inclusion based on my personal experience. Indeed, as a wheelchair user, I can attest that not only showrooms lack accessibility but fashion events too. So, this means you have to rely on the empathy of the staff working there – and that empathy can’t always be taken for granted!

In September 2019 – Covid hit the previous season – I was consulting for a brand participating in one of the exhibitions connected to Camera Moda. The designer had received an invitation to an event dedicated to fashion buyers and emerging designers, and so, the designer extended the invitation to me. I couldn’t attend alone; I needed assistance with my wheelchair. Therefore, the designer informed the Camera Moda press office about the need for a plus-one, which, frankly, shouldn’t require much explanation. Should it?

Their response was that because of the pandemic, they had limited access, so I wasn’t allowed to bring another person with me. Naturally, this meant I couldn’t participate in the event.

My friends were shocked by the idea that I put myself in the position of asking permission. In the case of walking disability, plus-one is a fact, period. But I was afraid any reaction would cause problems for the brand I worked for.

Disappointed by that reply, I posted something on my Instagram. I was fuming, frustrated. Unable to respond as they deserved in that precise moment. Shortly after, a beautiful human DM’d me, asking if she had understood my message correctly.

Laura Mohapi, a talented artist based in London, offered her support. Also, she believed I had to address what happened and offered to write a letter to Camera Moda on my behalf. The thought of having to explain myself made me feel awful, even though I knew it was the right thing to do, so her offer was a much-needed gesture of kindness.

I read the letter she wrote, and it was like receiving a punch in my stomach. I pondered a lot. But eventually, I decided to forward it by email.

No response came to my inbox. Probably it went ignored. And so I sent a registered letter as well.

Disability in fashion: Wheelchair? Please, don’t come!


This time, the message got a little attention – though not much. Indeed, I received in my inbox a forwarded email – in English. They didn’t even bother to make an effort to copy and paste the English version they received into a new email. They paid zero attention to the form, which gave the impression that what happened had no relevance for them. Or perhaps, they weren’t familiar with how to handle official correspondence coming from the president of Camera Moda.

In the end, it took me nearly two years to find the courage to write about it. But the sadness, frustration, and disappointment I feel when I see those ‘Include Diversity’ events still make me sick to my stomach.

And so, Cri and I wonder: when they launch those events for the fashion industry, what do they truly mean?

Wheelchair? Please, Don’t Come! Read More »

The Fashion Bullshit

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Exposing notorious fashion marketing empty claims


The fashion industry loves to discuss important matters that we would better describe as fashion bullshit.

How does the system work?
As soon as a new concept becomes popular in the fashion world, the proclamation is made. So the word spreads rapidly. As a result, marketing takes over the subject right away. And, once marketing steps in, you can feel the smell of it. What follows is an unmistakable sense of artificiality that permeates the entire communication strategy.

As voices outside the chorus, we’ve put together a list of some of the fashion bullshit: terms that, the more people in the field put at the centre of the discussion, the more they sound weird.

The fashion bullshit list

• New:
usually said about things done and redone. Again and again. Eye roll when you hear this word.

• Change:
a kind of mystical belief we like to talk about, but never happens.

• Luxury:
or the fake representation of it. What remains after the voluntary shift towards overproduction and mass distribution.

• Affordable luxury:
a total absurdity launched to compensate for the collapse of real luxury.

• Sustainability:
the biggest bullshit of our times. Most designers who wave this flag lack a distinctive design imprint, and as a result, have no real reason to exist.

• Diversity:
possible or allowed only in fashion shows or advertising.

• Inclusion:
possible or allowed only in fashion shows or advertising.

• Disability:
possible or allowed only in fashion advertising. But please, don’t show up during fashion event!

• Fluidity:
gender-fluidity is popular in fashion shootings. But when you go shopping, items are divided by categories. And so, the shop assistant kindly invites you to shop in the section assigned to your gender.

• Collaboration:
possible only as co-branding (sharing a profit). However, genuine exchanges are very rare among fashion professionals.

• Humbleness:
unreported, or simly missing.

Does anyone have anything to add to this list? We’d love to hear from you.

The Fashion Bullshit Read More »