You are a professor of fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York City. How did you get interested in fashion for people with disabilities?
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, I worked in the tech industry in electronics. I designed cellphone-related items that focused on accessibility for the elderly.
You also are executive director of the Open Style Lab (OSL), a nonprofit organization. Tell us about the lab.
It started as a public service project at MIT in 2014 and was incorporated in 2015. At OSL, we assemble designers, engineers, and occupational therapists to create functional yet fashionable clothing for people with all abilities.
What is an example of the lab's projects?
In 2016, we worked with Jim Wice, a professor at Wellesley College, who can't regulate his temperature due to a spinal cord injury. He asked if we could design a stylish garment that would help him maintain a comfortable temperature. We created a piece using performance wool material with little vents strategically placed that he could open or close to let in or close off air, like little windows. The garment had a suit-jacket silhouette, so it was both functional and fashionable.
How does OSL's process work?
It starts with an idea from the person with the disability. The design team, which includes designers plus engineers and occupational therapists, is required to create three versions of the idea with input from the person with the disability. At the end, we host a fashion show. Our process encourages everyone to rethink accessible style and universal design.
Participants in Open Style Lab, a nonprofit that pairs designers with people with disabilities to make accessible and fashionable garments, gather for last year’s final showcase of their work.
What do participants gain from the experience?
It gives people a chance to be leaders and mentors and encourages everyone to think inclusively. It broadens their horizons instead of assuming one design fits all. And it reduces the stigma of disability.
What is the focus of this summer's program?
We're working with teenage girls from NYU Langone's Initiative for Women with Disabilities. The girls and their families meet with our design teams every Saturday for five weeks. Together, they learn how to make their own clothes more accessible. It allows them to express themselves through style—and learn about technology and design in the process. Too often young people with disabilities are denied these kinds of experiences because of stigma or lack of access or financial resources.
Why do you think fashion and design are important?
I am not disabled, but I've had my share of injuries, and each one was an opportunity to experience how restrictive regular clothing can be. It can be a barrier to mobility and independence. For me, the barrier was temporary. For people with permanent disabilities, the barrier can be lifelong. If the design industry can do its part to remove that barrier, that would be meaningful to me.
Read about a patient with cerebral palsy who collaborated with Open Style Labs to develop a coat that is both fashion-forward and functional for people in wheelchairs.