Model with Moebius Syndrome opens Fashion Week show

Model with Moebius Syndrome opens Fashion Week show

At this year’s New York Fashion Week, model, musician and facial difference advocate Austin Halls opened the Runway of Dreams catwalk, showcasing adaptive fashion to a captive audience of fashion week attendees.

Austin spoke to us about his first time modelling at such an internationally recognised event. He said “Words cannot describe how amazing it felt to not only attend my first New York Fashion Week but to walk in it. Never in my life did I see someone with a facial difference on the runway, so to be the first ever person with Moebius Syndrome to walk in NYFW is crazy and trailblazing to myself and so many others. 

“I feel like this is just the beginning of representation in all of the media, and to showcase how beautiful differences really are. I feel super proud of myself for opening doors that I didn’t even know were possible and to keep pushing for the community to feel more inclusive so that they never have to feel the way that I felt.”

Austin’s work at NYFW this year is an important milestone for the facial difference and disability communities respectively. With an estimated 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the global population, living with disability, only a mere 0.02% of models with visible disabilities and differences are featured in fashion campaigns. What will it take for fashion to become more inclusive once and for all?

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