River Island

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Caitlin Leigh and Brinston Tchana have modeled high street retailers, including Primark and River Island , but their interests in fashion were only awakened After she was Disabled and felt they had lost their identity.

With More Than 15,000 followers on Instagram and regularly check-in to his style, Brinston has the hope of One Day modeling on the New York Fashion Week . But a few years ago, The Fashion might not mind more of his.

at 17, he was months away from signing up to play for a professional football club in Spain, where he'd grown up, and life was good.

Before the big signing, he went to a night club with his friends. They spent to dance The Night away, carefree and excited about their future and later went home together through The Dark streets, laughing and chatting.

But, out of nowhere, a car from behind and hit you.

rescue workers were called, but three of The Friends in this night died and Brinston was left in a coma. When the young footballer was told came around him, he was paralyzed from the waist down. The Driver was drunk.

It changed his life completely, to get used to with his sporting ambition, from the table, and a other body and appearance.

Until then, the idea that fashion could be more interesting or fun by passed Brinston. "My mother bought me all my clothes. I was more focused on the football and I don't have to worry about something else," he says.

and Now a wheelchair-user, he felt, he was worried at the beginning of his image by The Shift in how people perceived him.

One Day , while waiting for a friend in his new home in Birmingham, England, and shivering from the cold in a thin jacket, A Man approached Brinston.

"This guy came close to me and gave me £5. I was like: "Why don't you give me £5?' And he was like: "You're not homeless?'. "

Brinston was taken aback. He felt that, if he's not in a wheelchair, would not have happened.

he says that He has learned, some people think he is homeless, while others suspect his tattoos and injuries are gang or associating with violence. You are not there. He feels there is sometimes a racial element to this type of thinking - "to be black in a 'white country', not with a disability," he says.

discovered in the course of time, Brinston, that, if he dressed in style, less false assumptions would be made about him.

It is also moved, as he considered fashion, and he began to adopt it both as a way of expressing themselves, and as a shield against the outside world.

He bought a high-end jackets, and Shoes that looked smart and elegant, but also looked good and were comfortable for him as a wheelchair-user.

"If I'm home and feel safe, I prefer casual stuff, and I know no one will judge me. But when I'm outside, I feel like I Need to show you that I Am so vulnerable. "

Brinston, with fashion as armor is something that it identifies Caitlin Leigh with the and busy, as always be Disabled - to lose, she began hair and have seizures a year ago.

your symptoms initially, doctors baffled. She was diagnosed with alopecia, and After many tests, it was found that she had fainted, to block as a result of their spirit in difficult situations, trying - a state referred to as dissociative seizures are brought thoughts to of previous episodes of depression, anxiety, and stress.

The attacks happen every couple of hours, and Caitlin began to use a wheelchair to ensure that she was safe. to lose

"The minute I started my hair cut, I decided to go for a buzz," she says. "I felt like I fit anything in my wardrobe to me, but over time, I began to slowly make My Way in fashion. "

Previously, Caitlin's hair was long and you loved coloring. Now she describes her General style as edgy and indie.

"for me, fashion is a way to Express myself. Before it was my hair, now it is my fashion. And it fills me With Confidence . If I feel a bit different, I feel Untouchable . "

Often, the choice of statement pieces with bold colors and patterns, she says, their style helps challenge stereotypes that people have of wheelchair-users and acts as a "gateway" to the talks.

Listen to the podcast

Caitlin loved to experiment with her hair prior to the development of alopecia and Brinston was about to sign as a professional footballer, as he is paralyzed in a car crash.

you Hear the two models talking about fashion, to define disability and to find out who they were.

"I think people feel they can come to me more when I wear something unusual, or if my hair is different, because they see that as the talk.

"If I go out and I look confident and dressed up I'm sure people have definitely more confident posturing to me. If I just wear normal comfortable clothes, people See Me as a person in a wheelchair. "

But it is complex. If you can be yourself and to Express positive, a double-edged sword. Some wheelchair users the feeling that if you are "well dressed", or in a way that challenges stereotypes, it can make people think you are not Disabled .

Brinston says he has experienced this. On a Night Out with friends, he wore his most expensive Shoes - the £700 Balenciaga . A Man came to him and asked if he was After the death of his disability.

"Why should I play? How I wish, I was just dancing around could be like you," he said to The Man . "I think the negative part is that if you dress well, then people will think you are just playing a little, to get money. "

But that's not to say Disabled people should not feel they Need to dress-up.

"It takes time to trust, says to think about fashion for yourself," Caitlin. "I think that's the biggest thing, the Growing Up of Young People , that you feel, the way you dress for other people, and that's not how fashion should be. "

Even though fashion is an integral part of Caitlin and Brinston's life, you say, the shops Need to become more accessible and the clothes - they remain presentable even After you're sitting in a wheelchair all day - Need to establish itself.

The disability charity Purple estimates of the UK high street loses about £267m a month, because of this inaccessibility.

Both Caitlin and Brinston claim that fashion helped them, their disabilities, and neither think you would be working in the industry, if you are not Disabled .

"to Find my style, I mean, given the self-confidence I needed to pursue The Fashion career, I Am now living," Caitlin. "It doesn't matter what your disability is, you can still see the Bomb . "

After the view of shipments in the past year on the London Fashion Week , she is determined on this catwalk One Day .

"people just Need to have the confidence to take this Step - book a Disabled Model , because we are human beings, and it is really important that we are represented. "

Brinston agrees and says, After years of fighting, to accept, to define his disability, fashion also helped new, its identity beyond football.

"It is given to me, to say with all confidence, 'this is who I Am '. "

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life, london fashion week, birmingham, disability, fashion

Source of news: bbc.com