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"Fashion is a great equaliser," she said. "When I put effort in and dress up, people see me as the trainer of my [guide] dog, rather than the person who needs the assistance. It puts me at an equal level with everyone else because people assume I am fully sighted."

Slowly, the barriers between fashion and blindness are breaking down.

American designer Tommy Hilfiger used his trip to Australia last November to announce a new accessible clothing range. And the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival will include two events on this month's program that have been designed to include members of the low-vision community.

US designer Tommy Hilfiger is launching a line of accessible clothing.Credit:AAP

This week, Ms McPherson will model in a parade of Kangan Institute students' designs, wearing a jacket made in a partnership between the TAFE and Guide Dogs Victoria.

Sabrina Sekerovski, the graduate who made the lilac jacket, said she included many tactile elements, including faux fur, embroidery and buttons to enhance Ms McPherson's ability to enjoy elements of the jacket without necessarily being able to see them fully.

"It gets you thinking about what someone with vision impairment might need [from fashion]," she said. "For example, [Ms McPherson] said anything below knee length was difficult because she has a guide dog."

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Vision Australia's Vildana Prajak said the low-vision community often have disposable income but sometimes retailers put up too many barriers to encourage people with sight issues to spend with them.

"No one [in the fashion industry] is talking to us," says Ms Prajak, who has low vision resulting from a degenerative condition. "We are not considered an audience that corporations can tap into."

The other fashion festival event is a "spoken" runway, where guests can also take part in a "tactile tour" backstage to feel the garments before the show, to help them better experience what is on the catwalk.

"You don't often hear the word 'fashion' and 'disability' in the same sentence," Ms Prajak said. "The social inclusion at [the event's] core is challenging stereotypes. Its inviting people who have been traditionally excluded from fashion, which is so visual."

The Kangan TAFE parade is at the Melbourne Pavillion, Kensington, March 4, 6pm. The Spoken Runways, co-presented by Vision Australia, are on March 13 and 14, 7pm. Details vamff.com.au.

Melissa Singer is National Fashion Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

See original here:
Is fashion still largely blind to people with vision impairment? - The Age

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