For the first time ever, a show for people with disabilities will be presented during Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AAFW) in May.

The consumer show will feature the Adaptive Clothing Collective, a new group of three adaptive fashion brands that aim to “bring strength and unity of message and voice to the mainstream media, retail and fashion industries. “. Fashion label Christina Stephens, run by Jessie Sadler, is one of the founding members of the group.

This year, AAFW again worked with disability consultants Lisa Cox and Nikki Hind to ensure the inclusiveness of the event, from programming to parades.

Last year, role models with disabilities were featured in AAFW for the first time, including Paralympians Reed McCracken, Sarah Walsh and Michael Roeger. The event was met with controversy when several of the models struggled to get off the runway during the closing show.

“It was an amazing experience to be part of a fashion show…when I was little I knew I had always wanted to be a Paralympian and represent Australia. But I had seen it on TV and I I had seen people who had been to the Paralympics like me, but I had never once seen someone with a disability walking on the catwalk at Fashion Week,” Walsh said in an interview with Athletics NSW after the an event.

“To be able to pave the way for the next generation of people with disabilities, to be able to do something like this and make more worlds and more organizations more inclusive is pretty special.”

First Nations at the front

AAFW has recently focused on diversification and inclusion and this year Indigenous designers will return to the event in a broader capacity.

First Nations fashion and design will kick off AAFW with a Welcome to Country, while a parade of Indigenous fashion projects will feature on the program, including brands such as Indii, Kirrikin, Liandra Swim, Native Swimwear, Ngali and MAARA Collective . First Nations fashion and design will also feature a discussion titled Yours, Mine and Ours and will feature in the multi-brand closing show.

“We have a global platform and we have always leveraged that platform to shine a light on emerging talent as well as our established designers and the best of Australia,” said the vice president and general manager of ‘IMG Natalie Xenita. Inside retail.

“It makes sense for us to ensure that we also use our platform to support First Nations designers. We want to shine a light on them and there were some amazing things that came out of that last year. We’re really harnessing that and building on that success to do even bigger and better things this year.

Afterpay Australian Fashion Week will take place May 9-13 at Carriageworks in Sydney and virtually on AAFW.com, with industry and consumer events.