Photo by Nina Covington
Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Searcy.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born with Cerebral Palsy, and am wheelchair or walker dependent. In 2012, I became the first disabled fashion blogger, My blog, Spashionista (short for “Spastic Fashionista”) addressed the lack of disabled representation in the fashion industry and the lack of relevant content for people with disabilities in mainstream fashion journalism.
Growing up, my mother was very critical of my body type so I really stayed away from fashion. And then, after years of isolation, low self-esteem, and disordered eating, I realized people were treating me badly. They would not speak to me because I was in a wheelchair, they would speak to the people I was with and not me, and it really hurt my feelings. So, I decided to clean up and change the way I dressed. It made a really big difference to how people interacted with me.
In 2016, I co-founded Fashion is for Every Body(,) a nonprofit organization dedicated to normalizing inclusion in fashion and in life. We challenge stereotypes and change lives for adults of all ages, races, sizes, gender orientations, sexual identities, and physical abilities.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not! The very idea of disability and inclusion in fashion flies in the face of convention. I started Spashionista because I googled “Disabled Fashion Blogger” and literally got zero results. In 2012, there weren’t many resources so I had to create my own, Now there are many influencers with a myriad of disabilities out there.
When I started Fashion is for Every Body the idea of inclusion in fashion was unheard of. Our biggest project is an annual inclusive runway show. There wasn’t – and still isn’t – anything like it anywhere else. There are other shows for exclusive niches in fashion, such as plus-sized and adaptive – but none that puts everyone, including professional models, on the runway at the same time.
This year we required our designers to create dexterity-friendly, seated-friendly adaptive pieces for our older and/or disabled models. That’s a first.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
People with Cerebral Palsy tend to be really sheltered and really I am no exception to that. Before I started blogging had almost no exposure to disabled people at all. I was always “mainstreamed” in a time when people with my disability were more often than not institutionalized. I went to public school, went to college, that was all just able-bodied people, so I did not understand the scope of disability. Being in contact with all different kinds of people – all ages, shapes, sizes, and disabilities – has given me a greater understanding of who I am as a person and how I can make an impact.
My insistence on inclusion has made me aware of how unaware able-bodied people are of the limitations people with disabilities face every day. It might seem like fashion is a strange thing to prioritize in the fight for accessibility. But fashion is visibility. Disabled people have been expected to be invisible for a long time, and when they’re invisible, hidden away, their rights, their needs, and their existence are easy to ignore.
There are so many aspects of disability rights that could be fixed very easily but we have to confront disability and ableism first. That’s what I’m doing, what I’m doing is activism. It says “We exist, we are vibrant, we are people.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is an ongoing process, a step-by-step journey. Every time I feel I have successfully reached a personal or professional goal, I move on to the next one. I don’t want to get complacent. Fashion is for Every Body shouldn’t be a project. It should be a fact.
Contact Info:
- Email: spashionista@gmail.com
- Website: https://fashionisforeverybody.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/fashionisforeverybody
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fashionisforeverybody
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwDY4fwFgHkTp2xsS7IBE8w
- Other: instagram.com/spashionista
Image Credits
Alicia Boswell Photographers: MF Sagi, Courtney Davis, Authentic Photos and Designs, Stealth Productions, Annette MacNamara, Mary Williams, and Searcy Studios.
Models: Katie Key, Adam Stahura, Alicia Searcy, Iris Perez, Jules Smith, Cienna Ditri, Rachel Boyce, Alicia Boswell, Chelsie Nitschke and Kendall Parker.
