Fashion brand Unhidden is bringing clothes made for all bodies to London Fashion Week

By Sarah Mills

LONDON (Reuters) Fashion designer Victoria Jenkins unveiled stylish and practical pieces made for people with disabilities on the runway at London Fashion Week on Friday, in a collection meant to address a gap in the market.

The Unhidden: A New Era in Fashion event featured around 30 models all living with disabilities, chronic conditions or the visible difference of floating dress models with easy access around the waist and colorful chiffon tie shirts with adjustable sleeves in the brand’s showroom Kurt Geigers footwear.

Unhidden is an adaptive fashion brand primarily targeting inclusion in fashion for people with disabilities, Jenkins told Reuters.

Jenkins, who has reduced mobility, first found a niche in the clothing market designed with the whole body in mind in 2016 during a hospital stay when another patient lifted her.

Surprised that only a few brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, offered such fashion to everyone, she decided to use her previous experience as a garment technologist to establish her own brand.

When I had this idea, it was like a light bulb and everything changed, he said.

It helps me personally but I also see the impact around me of people being able to dress according to their needs.

Jenkins demonstrates a royal blue shirt with pop buttons that open and close easily, as people who have had strokes may have trouble buttoning them.

It also has openings across the arm, he says, so anyone undergoing treatment can access their arm without removing clothing. It’s about dignity.

Model and content creator Jessica Ping-Wild, who wears prosthetic legs and has trouble finding pants that fit, says brands like Unhidden are making a difference.

A designer who takes into account the fact that bodies are different almost breaks the mold of beauty that has been ingrained in society for centuries, he says.

The Jenkins collection also includes longer-back shirts for wheelchair users as well as custom-made suits. He hoped his clothes would become more readily available in the future.

Diversity without disabilities is not diversity, it feels like this is the last taboo. People are still afraid of the D word. You know, disabled isn’t such a bad word, he said.

(Reporting by Sarah Mills; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)