On the hunt for fashion inspiration

Posted by Lara Masters at 14:25 on 24 Apr 2009

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As Disability Now mag’s dedicated Style Section expert, I of course have my finger firmly on the fashion pulse at all times. Or maybe, I have a savvy editor at DN who although blind, cunningly employs his sixth sense to sniff out the hottest happenings on the style scene then sends me forth to get the goods. And the bads. You know how us disabled folk all have ESP; you close one door and a window opens. You have one of your five senses impaired and grow a sixth, sometimes seventh and eighth sense. Although, I actually have never experienced a window opening when I close a door in my house, even if I really slam it and the window has been left slightly ajar. But it's true about all disabled people having extra powers. We almost never use Google.

For my latest fashion mission I was sent forth to Alternative Fashion Week at Spitalfields market. Often I find the word "alternative" is simply employed as a euphemism for "not quite as good as", for example with sugar and fat substitutes which taste disgusting and give you tummy ache. Or it's used to mean “a bit pervy” or “ a load of old hippies” as in the case of "Alternative Lifestyle", so I donned my skull beret at a slightly sceptical angle to find out exactly what was alternative about Alternative Fashion Week and just hoped it did not leave me trussed up in latex, humming Grateful Dead tunes with a sore belly. Or at least not the last two.

Well, I need not have been so darned suspicious. Apparently "alternative" can also have very positive meanings like recycled, ethical and organic.  And whilst all these words sound almost dichotomous in the context of fashion, I experienced eight collections from home-grown and international designers that were exciting, wearable and gave you that warm feeling provoked by the certainty that the beautiful garment you behold is neither fabricated from dead animals nor the work of blind 5 year old orphans.  Big up AFW where “alternative” doesn’t mean dodgy. Click here for more information.

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