One rainy October evening, we received an email from Charly Evans, co-organiser of the Bristol Fashion Show - an annual community-led event that showcases independent designers, artists, and models in Bristol, whilst simultaneously raising money for local charities. Charly said:
“Carmela has a dream: to see herself on a billboard, showing that disabled people belong in fashion. We want to change what people expect a model to look like, and a billboard in Bristol would do exactly that.”
It was a no-brainer for us. Disabled people definitely belong in fashion. They belong everywhere. Whilst things are definitely improving, the fact that it is still not commonplace to see people with disabilities represented in media and advertising is really pretty shameful on us as a society. But who is Carmela?
Carmela Chillery-Watson MBE isn’t your average 12 year old. She’s practically a veteran of the Bristol Fashion Show, having modelled for them since she was just five years old, she runs her own charity (Cure4Carmela), has had a book written about her and is the youngest person to ever receive an MBE. Carmela also lives with LMNA congenital muscular dystrophy - an ultra-rare progressive muscle wasting condition that affects less than one in a million worldwide.
We were delighted to be able to help turn Carmela’s dream into a reality, with a nice big 48 sheet billboard on the city’s longest run of independent shops - Gloucester Road. Carmela’s story, the Bristol Fashion Show and even the billboard also managed to garner the attention of national media, with the BBC, ITVX and numerous local publications covering the story. “I’ve never been on a billboard before, so that’s amazing”, says Carmela, who didn’t know she was going to be on it until she was taken to see it by her mum.
Raising over £10,000 in ticket sales, sponsorships and fundraising in months beforehand, the event kicked off in style, with organisers Charly Evans and Butzi Schlaadt asking all the designers who took part to design clothes for disabled models with both visible and invisible disabilities, with beautiful and inspiring results.
You can find out more about the Bristol Fashion Week here.