Fashionable: styling the unique body

Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in the use of diverse models in fashion media ranging from plus size models to older and ethically diverse models. People with disabilities, however, remain invisible in fashion magazines and advertising. My research addresses this absence with a project that is both empirical and creative. Working across disciplinary borders, it will advance both my own field of Fashion and Disability Studies by opening a line of inquiry related to the employment (or lack) of models with disabilities in the fashion industry. The project enables me to produce a creative work that will contribute to the larger social process of representing people with disabilities in more complex ways. It will shed light onto how fashion is important to everyone as a key form of expressing identity regardless of physical differences