When asked about the collection’s name, ‘Well Fair’, Victoria said: “The [disabled] community’s been through a lot this year.
“I wanted to sort of comment on the fact that we get thrown to the wolves a lot in the media, and this is kind of, I wanna turn some of those narratives on their head.”
A reference to the contentious Welfare Reform Bill, which saw months of protests and warnings from over 100 creatives who signed an open letter, narratives on what it means to be disabled in the 21st century included the suggestion of shirking work, or being akin to a ‘scrounger’. Victoria’s models debuted the collection with slogans such as ‘Not A Burden’ and ‘Well Fair State’.
For many disabled people working in creative industries, there’s often an expectation that we should be grateful for the exposure, rather than expecting payment for our labour. Victoria pushes back on this stereotype. “We’re not sort of just hiring people and not paying them,” she explains. “I think it’s really important that people know everyone’s being paid!”
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Other show partners included the adaptive beauty brand Human Beauty, which went viral thanks to an appearance on Dragon’s Den earlier this year, alongside Fortnum & Mason, which provided champagne to guests.
“I think every single show so far, people forget that the clothes are the story as well. It’s not just the models. It is the clothes themselves that do something, and I think that gets lost a lot,” reflects Victoria.
Consider this, then. The total worth of the spending power of disabled people in the UK is estimated to be £274 billion. Yet £2 billion is estimated to be lost on the high street each month, due to a lack of access for disabled people.
Jenkins calls upon the fashion industry to do better, in a simple call to arms: “Too often we get expected to be grateful for crumbs. Disabled models might be gifted stuff, but they won’t get paid, or they won’t get paid the same as their non-disabled counterparts.”
So, what’s next for adaptive fashion? Victoria reflects, “The sky’s the limit”.
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