PARIS — As 2021 drew to a close, and traditional year-end recaps and top 10s began to appear online, Aaron Rose Philip had a question for the Twitterverse: “How come the first disabled model to walk for a major wheelchair luxury brand never stops Worthy of a newcomer, rising star or ‘social mover’?
The 21-year-old model was referring to her appearance on the Moschino runway for its spring 2022 show at New York Fashion Week, which she felt hadn’t received proper recognition. It was his latest call to action to an industry that often pays lip service to diversity but has rarely opened its doors to people with disabilities.
Since then, Philip has racked up cutting-edge editorials for Interview and ShowStudio, and was featured in the video for Collina Strada’s fall 2022 collection. She is an ambassador for Amazon Luxury Stores and also has an association with Mugler fragrances.
Signed in Community New York, it is now also represented in the UK by Milk Management. And Philip recently made her broadcasting debut by co-hosting the web series “The Truth Is” on Yahoo’s video platform In The Know, interviewing guests including actor Tommy Dorfman and drag artist Junior Mintt.
In 1998, when Alexander McQueen featured Paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins on his catwalk, it was almost unheard of for luxury brands to work with models with disabilities. In recent years, that has been gradually evolving.
For example, Gucci featured Ellie Goldstein, a model with Down syndrome, as the face of a 2020 beauty campaign, while Rihanna has used models with disabilities in her Savage x Fenty fashion shows. Jillian Mercado made her runway debut in a wheelchair two years ago for New York-based independent brand The Blonds.
Moschino, spring 2022
Masato Onoda for World Water Day
Last year, Philip became the first wheelchair-bound model to be featured on the runway by a mainstream luxury brand, a career leap he attributes to Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott and his own perseverance.
“It’s something I worked on for five years,” he says. “And it finally happened, and for that I am completely honored. But I don’t want to stay there. I didn’t do that just to make it a unique moment. My career is serious. I want to have the career that my peers can have as people without disabilities.”
The Antiguan-born model, who moved to the United States as a child, is campaigning for mainstream recognition and visibility, not only as a person with a disability but also as a Black transgender woman, a category that considered equally underrepresented in Fashion.
“Disability should be one of the biggest conversations in fashion, but I want to say something else,” she tells WWD in a spirited Zoom conversation from New York City.
“It really bothers me the way that fashion makes trans people work as models, because I feel like a lot of the casting directors, they are very vocal about supporting trans talent online and in text messages, but then when it comes time to actually put us in the campaigns and on the runways at New York Fashion Week, you know, London, Milan, Paris and everything else, they don’t give us any opportunities, any jobs, especially black transgender women,” she says.
Aaron Rose Philip on the digital cover of V magazine.
Courtesy of V magazine
Philip herself has been lucky enough to gain the support of industry heavyweights, including Scott, Naomi Campbell, Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace and Riccardo Tisci, who have championed her in various ways. Miley Cyrus featured her in her video for her 2019 song “Mother’s Daughter,” which has been viewed more than 128 million times on YouTube.
And Campbell interviewed Philip for Paper magazine in 2019, less than a year after Elite Model Management hired her, after she posted her photos in a tweet that went viral.
“I remember when they told me I was going to interview for it, I was in tears because I was so shocked that one of my biggest inspirations knew who I was, supported me, and wanted to know about me and my life. That was very important to me and it was a great day,” she recalls.
Philip is always kind when thanking the people who have helped her achieve her goals, but it is clear that she is her biggest supporter. Her courage and determination stood out at a young age. At just 14 years old, she wrote a memoir titled “This Kid Can Fly: It’s About Ability (NOT Disability)” about growing up with cerebral palsy.
She has stubbornly forged her own path ever since. “Nothing in my career has been very orthodox,” she admits.
“I feel like I am someone who has lived many different lives in 21 years. That’s how I like to put it: I’ve shed a lot of different skins, basically. And when I was younger I wasn’t in fashion, but I was always telling stories and always trying to emphasize what life is like for disabled people, what is the experience for a disabled person, because I realized, being a young disabled person, that my experience was so isolated,” he recalls.
“I would go to the playground at school and people would look at me weird and not want to play with me,” she says, adding that after her transition, she struggled to see herself reflected in fashion magazines. “Not having seen the representation of the disabled in fashion made me think, they are not thinking of us, and well, why not? And that was kind of the motivation behind why I started my modeling career when I was 16.”
aaron rose philip
Anthony Tudisco/Courtesy of Community New York
According to the World Health Organization, 15 percent of people have some form of disability, making it the largest minority community in the world. Of these, 2 to 4 percent experience significant difficulty functioning.
The global clothing market for people with physical disabilities and medical conditions was valued at $334.5 billion in 2021 and is forecast to post a CAGR of 4.9% between 2022 and 2030, according to research firm market Coherent Market Insights.
While mass-market retailers like Target and Asos have started to offer tailored clothing lines, few designers have ventured into the segment. A notable exception is Tommy Hilfiger, who launched an adaptable collection in 2016, while Derek Lam has increased the visibility of inclusive fashion by partnering with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation on his Design For Disability fashion show.
Most recently, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims launched a line of underwear for people with disabilities that features easy-access zippers.
Faced with a dearth of options, Philip says she’d love to contribute to the design of a clothing collection, but doesn’t want to stop there.
“In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about getting into the casting director’s world. How can I work with brands to implement and encourage representation of not only disabled bodies, but also black trans bodies, black trans women?” she says.
Having more people with disabilities working on sessions would also help raise awareness of the specific needs of models who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids, she reasons.
“A lot of clients come up and opt me in, and they almost confirm me for a lot of things, and then at the last minute they say, ‘Oh wait, this isn’t wheelchair accessible, we can’t have you.’ Really.’ It used to be more heartbreaking, but now I know that’s the way it is. But I would love to see change and I know change is possible,” she says.
“Really, in my heart, I just want brands to understand that disabled people wear clothes too. So it’s like any other group of people who are represented in fashion: we need to be represented in fashion, on and off set, as models, as casting directors, as talent, as photography producers, production crew.” , he adds.
Aaron Rose Philip on the cover of Perfect magazine.
Courtesy of Perfect Magazine
She cites Scott as an example of someone willing to go the extra mile.
“More brands should be able to follow these steps that Jeremy did, like getting a ramp and talking to the venue to make sure disabled models are encouraged, welcomed and accommodated to do their jobs,” he argues. “That action literally changed my life. It gave me the ability to go and do my job the way I see fit and the way I know is possible.”
Air travel is another challenging area, highlighted by the death last year of disability advocate Engracia Figueroa after an airline damaged her customized wheelchair, causing her to develop a pressure ulcer that ultimately led to a fatal infection. . Philip has also had some bad experiences.
“I took a flight to Los Angeles once and this plane lost my lap tray on my wheelchair, and I couldn’t eat properly anymore, I couldn’t use my equipment to talk to people properly anymore, I couldn’t use my phone on my hands correctly. It was so crazy. And these things happen a lot, and it’s not right,” she says.
While she often uses her social media platforms to draw attention to such injustices or help trans women in emergency situations, she resists being labeled an activist.
“I’m really just a model,” she says. “I don’t think helping people makes you an activist by default. I worked as an activist when I was younger for many years, and what I do today is very different from what I did in the past. Activism is a very dedicated career.”
Instead, she is using her platform to campaign for equal opportunities for models with disabilities.
“I want other models with disabilities, other models wearing mobility aids and maybe hearing aids, multiple models with different types of disabilities, on the runway, in campaigns, and on magazine covers,” she says.
“A goal of mine is definitely walking and also doing campaigns for all the brands: Burberry, Moschino, Versace,” Philip continues. “I want to be able to have full covers on my wheelchair. I just want the world to understand that people with disabilities are worthy of being seen and known as beautiful, fashionable, fashionable people, because we are.”
Source: wwd.com