When Hülya Marquardt visited Fashion Week with her mother-in-law in 2019, she realized again: "Fashion and a disability simply don't go together for many people." She was born with dysmelia, i.e. deformities in her hands and feet.

Both her legs were amputated when she was 18.

On Instagram, she (her husband photographs) takes her almost 65,000 followers with her through her everyday life.

"In the beginning I thought these were just photos and videos," says Marquardt, "but I noticed how positive the effect can be on people."

In addition to the account and her main job in the Chamber of Crafts in the Stuttgart region, she runs a boutique with her mother-in-law.

"At fashion week, people often thought I was just the companion.

Most people were surprised that I was actually involved.” People with disabilities often cannot find suitable clothing.

Therefore, adaptive mode now takes their needs into account.

Marquardt sometimes wears prosthetic legs, sometimes she's in a wheelchair, and sometimes she's "walking the floor" - she adjusts her outfit accordingly.

“In the wheelchair I make sure the trousers are higher waisted and if I have prostheses I like to show them off.

I've bought clothes for people in wheelchairs before – they're practical, but just not fashionable.” She prefers to buy clothes from the usual department – ​​even if she then has to go to the tailor to have them altered.

Fashionable and needs-oriented – both are possible

"Practical, but not fashionable," is how Josefine Thom describes the range of rehabilitation fashion.

She became aware of the topic through her sister, who is disabled.

Frustrated by the small selection of suitable clothing, she founded the label MOB in 2019 - fashion without barriers.

"We want to develop our fashion with wheelchair users, designers, relatives and nursing staff." Instead of assuming a standing person, the needs of a sitting person are taken into account.

Lengths and cuts are optimized for wheelchair use.

Shirts have magnetic buttons, trousers have no back pockets, tops are longer at the back than at the front.

The Auf Augenhöhe label was also created in 2017 from personal experience.

Sema Gedik realized early on that her short cousin was not able to express herself fashionably.

Pants and sleeves were too long, and due to different proportions, a lot of other things didn't fit properly either.

Many people with short stature confirmed the problem: There is no uniform clothing size system for people with short stature.

So she did some research during her fashion design studies: “I measured more than 800 people with short stature worldwide.” Now, at eye level develops clothing for people with short stature.

Both brands want a more open approach to the issue of disability and cooperation with the target group.

Occasionally, major brands are also launching adaptive garments.

Tommy Hilfiger has been leading an adaptive fashion line in Europe since 2020, and Nike has released the "Go FlyEase", a "hands-free sneaker".

But Sema Gedik says: "Nike is bringing out this shoe without telling the story behind it." Originally, the aim was to make it easier for people with disabilities to put them on and take them off independently, but the promotional video almost exclusively shows people without disabilities .

In addition, the shoe was limited, only available to members - and therefore quickly sold out.

Extended standards?

More and more major fashion brands are also showing models outside of the standardized ideal of beauty on the catwalk or in campaigns.

Diversity is now a priority.

It is "enormously important", says Gedik, that people are shown who do not correspond to the conventional ideal of beauty.

This is how minorities are represented and made visible.

Aaron Philip became the first black trans woman with a disability to join a major modeling agency in 2018 and has worked for a number of brands since then.

Madeline Stuart, an Australian model with Down syndrome, is also one of the few people with a visible physical disability to have walked fashion weeks.

"Especially the big brands have the capacity and the power to get something going," says MOB founder Josefine Thom.

"Models with prostheses have been on the catwalk for several years, but not much has changed." For many brands, it's just a PR trick.

Gedik also sees few fashion labels that deal intensively with the topic.

“It's good when awareness and visibility are created.

But if a company really wants to present itself as diverse and inclusive, then you have to think ahead.” What is stopping the brands from doing this?