In France, over 12 million people are affected by a handicap, according to figures by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. Long overlooked by mainstream society, individuals living with a handicap are often the first to be excluded from jobs and industries, and fashion is no exception. Today, however, it appears the winds of change have begun to rustle the fashion foliage a bit — little by little, brands are finally acknowledging the handicapped community, and making new muses of some of its members.
Aaron Philip, a transgender model quadriplegic since birth, is one of the most iconic figures of this cultural shift. After having featured in several well-known fashion magazines, she was the first handicapped person to be represented by New York's Elite Model Management. Since then, she has worked with a growing list of fashion houses. In Moschino's latest campaign, for example, black and white photographs show her in punk-accented looks inspired by the French Revolution. Last July, Gucci featured model Ellie Goldstein, who has Down's Syndrome, to represent the Gucci Beauty line. Photographed by David Hyde, himself handicapped, the campaign was wildly successful. The brand's official Instagram post featuring her has nearly a million likes and is one of the most popular images on the account. After having lost her legs to Toxic Shock Syndrome, model Lauren Wasser created massive buzz in 2015 when she posed in a recreation of Kylie Jenner's Interview cover — seated in a wheelchair, her headline simply reads: "Real life."
As for us, we decided to present handicapped model and actor Luc Bruyère in our Spring-Summer 2020 campaign. On the connection between fashion and handicap, Bruyère explains: "Fashion should be more inclusive. And really, ‘handicapped person' is a phrase that bothers me, because what's a handicap? When can you say that someone is handicapped? I think that the fashion world should resist that by creating an industry in which it's everyone's prerogative to identify themselves, without feeling excluded because of it."
While it's only just begun, the handicap inclusion movement is also arriving on the screen. Handicapped actors and actresses are appearing in greater numbers in new series, from Ryan O'Connell in Special (Netflix) to Steve Way in Ramy, and of course, Shoshannah Stern, the first deaf actress to play a doctor, in Grey's Anatomy.