On Monday 18th May, Yasmin Keats, from Open Style Lab (OSL), conducted a CPD session for the Fashion Technology Academy (FTA) teachers on disability, inclusive design, and accessible fashion.
Open Style Lab (OSL) is a disability-led, Smithsonian Design Award-winning non-profit founded at MIT in 2015 with the mission to make style accessible to people of all abilities by educating designers and industry, raising awareness through events and workshops, and providing resources to the disabled community to enable ownership and dismantle design barriers in their daily lives.
Through their educational programmes, OSL showcase what is possible when collaborative design and functionality meet, by bringing together designers, engineers, occupational therapists, and people with disabilities to design functional wearable solutions for people of all abilities without compromising style.
In 2019, OSL was awarded the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt – Emerging Designer of the Year for their work in wearable technology, innovative textile applications, and exhibitions. Their impactful journey has been documented in a Hulu documentary, and in 2022 their work was showcased at the first-ever disability-focused runway show at New York Fashion Week.
This CPD session is an introduction to disability, inclusive design, and accessible fashion, with a focus on building confidence, curiosity, and practical understanding.
The CPD session covered:
- A brief history and 101 introduction to disability, culture, language, and representation
- An introduction to inclusive design and accessible fashion
- Open Style Lab’s work and methodology, including their multidisciplinary, disability-led approach to fashion design
- Summer Programme, and how people can get involved
- Q&A: Open, non-judgemental discussion to explore people’s relationship to disability, including bias, stigma, uncertainty, and confidence when working with disabled people. To ask questions, learn, and better understand how to work with disabled people in a respectful, practical, and collaborative way.
Divya Kamath, Operational Manager at FTA Fashion Hub Leicester, said: “This session was very insightful and inspiring. It provided a deeper understanding of the importance of placing accessibility and inclusivity at the centre of the creative process. The session encouraged me to think more critically about inclusive practices in design and research. We are looking forward to working with Open Style Lab to support their programme. As ethical manufacturers in the UK and a well-equipped, qualified training academy, we at Fashion-Enter can collaborate and support them.”