A groundbreaking edition of British Vogue that promotes persons with disabilities has received accolades.
Reframing Fashion is the theme of the May edition of the fashion bible, which featured Sinéad Burke, Selma Blair, Aaron Rose Philip, Ellie Goldstein, and Justina Miles on the cover.
Inside, it features 19 handicapped individuals who are making a name for themselves in a variety of industries, including activism, fashion, sports, and the arts. They are a representation of the 16 million disabled people who call the United Kingdom home.
As Vogue said, the issue ‘highlights how the fashion industry can be more inclusive, and adapt to better support the Disabled community’.
‘[Producing this issue] was a necessary and overdue education for all – and taught us many lessons we will carry forward into the future, editor-in-chief Edward Enninful said within the issue.
He said the covers asks the quesstion: ‘We all engage with fashion, but does fashion engage with all of us?,’ adding that the cover’s theme, ‘Dynamic, daring and Disabled’ represents the ‘dynamism of spirit, of talent, of imagination,’ which ‘the stars of this issue have in spades.’
He added that the industry, including Vogue, must lean into this question ‘to better serve the Disabled community, alongside the Disabled community, with jobs, in the design of retail spaces, of photography studios, of digital interfaces, events, communications and, of course, clothes.’
The creation of this issue was a collaborative effort between Vogue, the accessibility consultant Tilting the Lens, and its chief executive, the Irish campaigner Sinéad Burkem. Sinéad stated that the issue will serve as a “call to action for the much-needed change in other parts of the fashion industry, and beyond.”
‘Accessibility and Disability inclusion are everyone’s responsibility and opportunity – this is a movement, not a moment,’ he added.
Other cover stars include models Ellie and Aaron Rose Philip, a racing driver named Nicholas Hamilton, a lawyer named Jessica Inaba, a comedian named Rosie Jones, an ASL performer named Justina, a dancer named Musa Motha, a writer and human rights commissioner named Rosaleen McDonagh, a creative entrepreneur named Reuben Selby, an artist named Christine Sun Kim, and a content creator named Fats Timbo.
The issue is getting a lot of attention even before it hits the newsstands.
‘I love British Vogue’s new covers! Talk about reflecting the times,’ one person posted on Twitter, while another said it was ‘truly beautiful’ to see Vogue ‘give a shining light to everyone’s beauty.’
‘British Vogue issue featuring disabled icons! one fan wrote online, with one describing the covers as ‘beautiful and perfect.’
‘British Vogue, this means the world, to see disabled beauty on your cover. Thank you,’ some-one else wrote.
Another simply added: ‘It’s about time.’
British Vogue recognised Queen Elizabeth II with her first-ever cover last year, which also made history in a different manner.
The publication issued a special edition in honour of the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee that included a picture of her wearing a crown and necklace in the early years of her reign.
See the full feature in the May issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands from Tuesday April 25.
Source My Celebrity Life.