Limitless Beauty Fashion Show
On Sunday October 16th 2022, Blind Beginnings hosted its "Limitless Beauty Fashion Show", an event featuring a group of youth that were blind or partially sighted, ranging in age from 9 to 21 and coming from communities all over the Province. This unique event was designed to educate the public on the abilities of youth who are blind or partially sighted and the importance of accessibility and inclusion. The show was a resounding success as these nine youth models showcased a variety of outfits in front of a packed venue at JIG Space in Vancouver.
The Importance of
Visual Description
Visual description is a way for presenters or people at an event to describe their physical appearance and provide helpful contextual information to those people who are blind or partially sighted. These descriptions can help with eliminating unconscious bias and with navigating social situations, since people may feel uncomfortable asking for details on what a person looks like.
For the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show, this was especially important since many attendees in our audience were blind or partially sighted. Descriptive Video Works kindly provided a Describer who was on hand to visually describe all the outfits that our models were wearing as they walked the runway, which made this event fully accessible and enjoyable for every attendee regardless of their level of vision.
We have put together visual descriptions of each of our model’s main outfits below as an example of how to write engaging and valuable information for those who may blind or partially sighted and for all our friends in the blind or partially sighted community to enjoy.
Meet Our Models
Acacia
Aly
Camryn
Nolan
Cashus
Kadence
Alina
Alethea
Nika & Gabe
Acacia (She / Her)
Acacia is a Grade 12 student who lives in the Okanagan and has been involved with Blind Beginnings for several years. She really enjoys participating on the Limitless Podcast and Blog Committees as well as joining Creating Connections meetings. Acacia wanted to be involved in the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show in order to learn more about Fashion in general and thinks it’s important to show it can be inclusive for everybody, regardless of level of vision.
Acacia’s Visual Description:
Acacia is a teenage girl with long straight shoulder length blond hair. The main outfit that she modeled was a black cropped faux leather zipped jacket with a black t-shirt and a black and white plaid pleated mini skirt with black socks and chunky black lace up boots.
ALethea (She / Her)
Alethea is 16 years old and lives in Victoria. She’s been a long time member of Blind Beginnings, having been participating in programs ever since she was just a few weeks old! One of her favourite Blind Beginnings memories was just recently, attending our Youth Leadership weekend where she got to meet new friends in person and practice a host of daily life skills such as taking transit and meal prep. Alethea wanted to participate in the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show because she wanted to meet new friends and was encouraged by her other friends at Blind Beginnings to try new things (such as modeling in a fashion show)! She believes it is important to raise awareness about disability and to showcase the fact that there are no limits to what people with disabilities can do.
Alethea’s Visual Description:
Alethea is a teenage girl with short straight chin length dark brown hair. She modeled a white gathered dress with buttons up the front while she carries a light blue colored denim jacket and wears peach lace up canvas shoes.
ALINA (She / Her)
Alina is 9 years old and lives in Burnaby, BC. She loves participating in the Baking with Blind Beginnings Program that teaches baking skills and that always results in various yummy treats and one of her favourite highlights of the year is always the Blind Beginnings Annual Gala which she enjoys dressing up for. Alina wanted to participate in the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show because she believes it’s important to raise awareness that people with disabilities can do anything they put their minds to.
ALina’s Visual Description:
Alina is a 9 year old girl with dark brown hair pulled back in braids. She modeled an off white knee length dress with a scooped collar and elbow length sleeves and a white flower headband. She is accessorized with brown ankle sandals and a necklace, watch and holding a white mobility cane.
ALY (She / Her)
Aly is a 19 year old from Vancouver, and has been involved with Blind Beginnings for over 8 years. She’s been involved with so many different Blind Beginnings programs over the years that she has trouble picking any one particular favourite, but wanted to participate in the Fashion Show due to her love of both fashion and Blind Beginnings. One of her favourite parts of preparing for the Fashion Show was learning how to walk the runway and pose from a model instructor. She hopes that the Fashion Show will demonstrate that people who are blind or partially sighted can still love fashion and makeup and that there are no limits to what they can do.
Aly’s Visual Description:
Aly is a teenage girl with long dark brown hair. She is modelling a soft pink off the shoulder dress with black piping. She is wearing silver sparkly high heels with ankle straps.
CAMRYN (She / Her)
Camryn is a 19 year old from Vancouver Island who has been participating in Blind Beginnings programs since she was 14. She is excited to be participating in the Fashion Show in order to show how much confidence she has gained since those days when she was quiet and shy, eager to showcase how proud she is of the person she’s become. Camryn has loved her time preparing for the Fashion Show with the other models, learning, laughing and sharing individual looks with each other.
CAMRYN’s Visual Description:
Camryn is teenage girl with long straight medium brown hair. She is wearing a gold toned green satin dress that is mid-calf in length and flowing, with spaghetti straps and a V neckline.
Cashus (he / Him)
Cashus is 15 years old, lives in Vernon, BC and is new to Blind Beginnings, with the Fashion Show being his first experience with us. He is excited to participate because he has always had a love of fashion, design and expressing himself through creativity and the Fashion Show is providing him a unique opportunity to share his sense of style with others. Cashus feels that the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show is important to not only demonstrate to everyone that people who are blind or partially sighted are just as capable of beauty and expression as anyone else, but also to build confidence in the models and allow them to express their individuality.
Cashus’s Visual Description:
Cashus is a teenage boy with hair that is spiked into six 12 inch spikes while wearing a black and red headband. One of the several outfits he is modeling is a two tone denim jacket with one side black and one side light blue over a black and yellow shirt with red trim. He is also wearing black loose fitting pants and yellow soled lace up work boots with red laces.
KADENCE (She / Her)
Kadence is 16 and from Kamloops, BC. While the Fashion Show is Kadence’s first involvement with Blind Beginnings, she is very excited to have the opportunity to step out of her comfort zone and try something new. In preparing for the Fashion Show, she’s enjoyed the process of discovering her own style while watching her fellow models also discover theirs. “Everyone is so unique in their own perfect ways and it has been such an amazing opportunity to get the chance to be a part of that experience,” she told us. She hopes the Fashion Show demonstrates that people who are blind or partially sighted can enjoy fashion just as much as everyone else.
Kadence’s Visual Description:
Kadence is a teenage girl with long curled blond hair. She is modeling a strapless black full length evening gown and black pointed close toed high heel shoes with ankle strap.
Nika (She / HER)
Nika is a 21 year old university student from Vancouver who is currently studying food and nutrition. She has been involved with Blind Beginnings for 12 years, and has been actively volunteering for over 9 years. Nika was excited to participate in the Fashion Show because she’s always had an interest in modeling even as a young child and thought it was a great way to break down stereotypes and misconceptions when it comes to fashion and disability.
Nika’s Visual Description:
Nika is a young woman with short curly dark brown hair held back with a white head scarf. She is modelling a burgundy coloured cap sleeve, knee length dress with lace on the top and the midriff and gold strapped sandals. She has a black guide dog in harness which is leading her along the runway.
NOLAN (he / HIM)
Nolan is a 15 year old Grade 10 student from the town of Pouce Coupe in the Northeastern part of the Province. He has been involved with Blind Beginnings for 2 years now, and one of his favourite programs to participate in is our Creating Connections virtual hangout where he gets to meet and interact with other Blind Beginnings youth. Nolan wanted to participate in the Fashion Show in order to demonstrate that people who are blind or partially sighted can participate or enjoy fashion just as much as anyone else. Being involved in something like the Fashion Show is important to him because it is another example of how youth who are blind or partially sighted can participate in any activities, despite the limitations that others may place on them.
NOLAN’s Visual Description:
Nolan is a teenage boy with dark brown short hair. He is modeling a navy button up suit jacket and navy suit pants with a peach collared dress shirt, navy striped tie and a peach handkerchief peeking out of his breast pocket. He is accessorized with medium brown dress shoes and holds a white mobility cane.
Fashion Show Training Camp
August 8 - 10 2022
The following video was created during our Fashion Show Camp that was help on August 8 – 10th for our models to prepare for the show. It was filmed, edited and produced by Teejita Gupta with Audio Description courtesy of Descriptive Video Works.
The Limitless Beauty Fashion Show Training Camp was a unique program hosted by Blind Beginnings in the early part of August, 2022 just a few months before the actual Fashion Show was scheduled to be held. It was a program that fit within the Creating Confidence category, but also served as a valuable opportunity for the models to gather together, bond, and learn about fashion and beauty and discover their own ways to express themselves through it.
LIMITLESS BEAUTY Fashion Show
October 16, 2022
LIMITLESS BEAUTY Fashion Show Documentary
Accessible Media INC | Our Community, Season 7, Episode 2
This mini-documentary covers the preparation and behind-the-scenes footage from the Limitless Beauty Fashion Show and was aired on AMI as part of their Our Community series.