Parsons' New Disabled Fashion Student Program Aims to Create Change in the Industry
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Caity Briare is set to attend fashion school for the first time in New York City at Parsons School of Design this fall. Growing up, Briare always struggled to find trend-forward clothing that fit her smaller body–Briare is a little person—so she began cutting and altering clothing she bought at fashion stores. Looking back now, she realizes now that she was a fashion designer before she recognized it herself. Then, in 2020, she got her first sewing machine and started making clothing for herself. Now, she has a business called Ca8ty Designs that sees her customize thrifted pieces with hand-drawn images and embroidery, and she is pursuing a career in fashion with the goal of making others feel more included.
Briare will be one of the first students to participate Parsons' new Disabled Fashion Student Program, which is a new recruitment, scholarship and mentorship initiative created by Parsons and Tilting the Lens, the accessibility consultancy founded by disability activist, educator, and writer Sinéad Burke, that specifically supports disabled students in attaining a fashion degree and entering the industry.
Historically, the fashion industry hasn’t been known to be the most inclusive, especially when it comes to disability. Up until recently, most campaigns and runway shows have tended to feature able-bodied models. Luckily, that’s been slowly changing and inclusion is becoming more of a priority. For example, in 2018, Aaron Rose Philip became the first Black, transgender, disabled model to be represented by a major modeling agency, and Tommy Hilfiger has been making an adaptive line for almost a decade now. In September 2023, the brand Selkie was praised for featuring a model in a wheelchair in its Spring/Summer 2024 runway at New York Fashion Week.
Philip—who took Teen Vogue along on her prom GRWM adventure in 2019—has now appeared on the runway for major brands including Moschino and Collina Strada. Ellie Goldstein, who has Down syndrome, has been on the cover of Glamour. Still, the industry has a long way to go as very few fashion brands make disabled consumers a priority or are fronted by disabled designers.
Parsons is hoping to change the fashion industry's failure to not only recognize disabled people as consumers and wearers but also as creatives with its new initiative, which is set to launch this fall and will support three fashion students to start.
Burke, who has been deeply invested in changing the fashion system, says it was the mass disabling event of the pandemic that really got her thinking about what systemic change might look like in the fashion industry and beyond. Around that same time, Ben Barry PhD, who is also disabled and queer, had been appointed the dean of fashion at Parsons.
“Immediately,” Burke tells Teen Vogue, “I went to try to find him on Instagram and DMed him and said, ‘Hi, you're a queer disabled person. I'm a queer disabled person. We're both invested in transforming fashion. Can we have a conversation?’” From there, the duo began meeting monthly and thinking about how they could change systems and create a legacy within the industry. Burke says they realized that "building muscle memory within the fashion institution—that can only be done by having disabled designers in the room." In order for that to happen, Burke and Barry had to work backwards and build a program and a pathway to it that was accessible through the lens of disability justice and intersectionality.
This called for careful planning through every step, from advertising the program to finding mentors like Philip and Sky Cubacub, founder of Rebirth Garments, a brand making gender non-conforming wearables and accessories for queer and trans disabled folks of all sizes and ages. “I’m excited to be a mentor,” Cubacub says. “I can’t wait to work with the disabled students and hope that this program will be awesome enough that the students can really flourish and not have to do a lot of unlearning of the terrible industry standards and mainstream beauty standards that are racist, size-ist, ableist, and that demand conformity to the gender binary.”
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“The disability scholarship program at Parsons is so important because it allows for a new generation of disabled talent to have access to opportunities in fashion design and the fashion industry overall like never before,” Philip says. “In an industry that has been so exclusive towards disabled people, and in understanding what our community is capable of, this program is majorly helpful in giving a platform to brilliant people with brilliant ideas whose efforts normally just go under the radar. It’s a game changer.”
Nia Stanford, who lives with a nonverbal learning disability, dyslexia, dyscalculia and a processing disorder, aspires to be a “fashion disruptor,” and now as a soon-to-be student in Parsons’ new disabled fashion program, that could very well be possible. “Not only do I have learning disabilities and a chronic health condition, [I'm] extremely petite—so I'm 4'11"—and I have an idea for creating a completely different type of petite clothing line and also making it accessible to people with disabilities.” Stanford tells Teen Vogue.
When it came to applying, Stanford, who has a background in retail, had her concerns—in the past, she’s struggled to make new friends and adapt to new environments. “I have trouble understanding social cues [and] certain social situations,” she says. Though she’s nervous about what moving to New York City and starting fashion school might mean for her, she’s excited to experience different internships, get mentorship, and find community.
To prepare for her start in the program, Stanford says she’s had many conversations with the dean about her disabilities and the accommodations she needs. “He's made it pretty clear that they would like to have me there and that’s huge because, like I said, I struggle with acceptance.” In addition to receiving academic accommodations, Stanford, who deals with chronic pain as a result of lupus and arthritis and can't always walk long distances, says the school has been making it a priority that her residence hall is accessible. Financial aid is another perk.
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“I have often avoided asking for accommodation because of how difficult and exhausting the conversation is to explain myself,” says Ace Yin, the third and final incoming student in Parsons’ new program, who is autistic. “I have been masking and convincing myself that I can keep going like that for so long that I am only just starting to realize how much of myself has been neglected and exhausted.”
“Clear communication of tasks and patient understanding seem like obvious solutions, but I don’t think people realize how much of an impact it makes,” Yin says.
Though Briare doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do after the program, whether that’s making costumes for movie sets, designing red carpet dresses or something else entirely, she knows she will always prioritize her outlook as a disabled designer and focus on inclusion. “If I did make my fashion company, I would make sure to put an accessibility statement like I do have now, or try to make clothing that would be able to fit somebody with dwarfism as well.”
Ultimately, Parsons’ new program hopes to pave the way for a more inclusive fashion industry, one student at a time.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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