As you can tell from our recent blogs, we’ve had a busy finish to the year! Amongst being on Shark Tank, having a stand at Ability Fest and the chaos of Black Friday sales, we were also in the closing runway for Melbourne Fashion Week (M/FW)! This year M/FW celebrated 30 years as a leading event in the Australian fashion industry. As part of that celebration the closing runway showcased 30 ‘iconic’ Melbourne born brands and we were absolutely honoured to be invited to be one of those brands.
It felt so surreal seeing JAM alongside designers like Jaton Couture, Nicola Finetti and Jason Grech. Each label was asked to show three of their favourite looks, new or from their archives. Without a second thought we knew we had to bring some of our favourite pieces from our Australian Fashion Week (AFW) runway back for the special occasion. It was so fun seeing a combination of our AFW pieces all styled completely differently and on different models but still looking fabulous! We were so grateful to be involved in such an amazing event and it made us reflect on the many runway events we’ve been so fortunate to participate in over the years.
The first runway we ever did was AFW which was quite the introduction to this part of the fashion world! Our runway at AFW was completely put on by us, which involved A LOT of organisation (and money), but was great because we had full control over how the show looked and represented our brand. The response from our AFW show was amazing. For the first time, not only were people with disability represented through the models on the runway, but all of the garments worn by the models also considered the dressing needs and the functional needs of those from the disability community. This response really made us realise how much of an impact runways can have for those that are so rarely represented and considered at these events. Fortunately not long after AFW we were invited to participate in MFW 2022 as part of their Walker Lane Runway. Not long after that we were also very excited for JAM to be in the closing runway for Melbourne Fashion Festival (MFF)!
Since AFW in 2022, we’ve participated in 3 Melbourne Fashion Weeks and 2 Melbourne Fashion Festivals (which is absolutely wild to think about). We feel extremely privileged to have been involved in all of these runways and don’t take the opportunities for granted. Not only has being involved in these events been great exposure for JAM as a small brand in the mainstream fashion industry, but for us it really shows that Adaptive Clothing has a place within the Australian fashion scene. For those within the disability community, seeing Adaptive Clothing brands on big runways also proves to them that influential industries are considering them as consumers and not simply ticking a box by having a model with disability on the runway. Whilst we don’t know what the future looks like for JAM’s participation in runway events to come, we will forever be grateful for the events we have been involved in over the years and the impact this has had not only on us but those with disability and for disability representation in mainstream fashion.
