A car accident in 2007 left Heidi McKenzie paralysed from the upper body down. After eight years of striving to overcome her fate and adapting to a new order of life, she devoted herself to the question of fashion for people in the same situation.
Heidi McKenzie and her aspiration to make women with disabilities beautiful – Photo: Huffington Post
Now 29, Heidi McKenzie has graduated from university, done voluntary work and won a beauty contest for people with disabilities. But she often found it difficult to find a pair of jeans she liked.
According to figures from the US Census Bureau, there are currently about 3.6 million Americans who have to move around by wheelchair. Although there has been considerable progress in wheelchair design technology, and many people with disabilities have taken part in major fashion shows, designers continue to “forget” wheelchair users as a customer group in their new collections. This became a concern for Heidi McKenzie.
However, it was only when she took part in the Ms. Wheelchair America contest (a beauty pageant for women who move around by wheelchair in the USA) that Heidi McKenzie realised how hard it was for many women in the same situation to find a suitable “outfit” to help them feel comfortable and confident.
Heidi McKenzie said: “Beauty and comfort are what jeans for non-disabled people aim for, and they have many choices. Meanwhile, jeans for people who sit in wheelchairs only care about the basic functions of a wearable pair of trousers, and whether they look good is not a priority. I want to give women who sit in wheelchairs many more choices, so that we look better and feel happier too”.
That was what drove McKenzie to work with designer Kristin Alexandra Tidwell to create a jeans design called “Alter Ur Ego”, made specifically for people who have to move around by wheelchair.
These jeans are designed like ordinary jeans, except that they have pockets on the thighs that are very convenient to use, plus extra fabric panels. There are also other hidden details designed specifically to serve the particular needs of the wearer.
To start this project, McKenzie organised a fundraising campaign called Kickstarter, hoping to raise about USD 20,000. The money will be used for production costs and to build an online portal selling “Alter Ur Ego” jeans.
“I do not want to keep talking about the past, or about what if I could change it – McKenzie wrote this recently on her blog – I firmly believe that I am in exactly the right place I need to be, designing clothes for people like me who sit in wheelchairs”.
D.KIM THOA (Source: Huffington Post)_http://tuoitre.vn/