Thanks to Wendy Brandes, I discovered Style Made by Hand, a blog which chronicles the author’s personal style quest and muses upon fashion as a social construct and tool for empowerment. Susan posted an amazing talk by Aimee Mullins in which the athlete and model talks about re-thinking fashion and altering the parameters of beauty:
Aimee first came into the public eye as an athlete. While studying at Georgetown University, she became the first woman with a “disability” to compete in the NCAA and set world records at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta running on prostheses modeled after the hind legs of a cheetah.
Being told she looked too attractive to be disabled made Aimee question definitions of beauty, especially as they pertain to women, and she has spent much of her career addressing prescribed notions of beauty. At the same time, she has challenged what it means to be disabled and whether the term is even useful. She says her disability is not something she’s overcome or that she’s dealing with, but that she is simply living her life the best way she can.
“I’m finally Aimee Mullins and there doesn’t have to be a qualifier before that. And my legs aren’t the most interesting thing about me.”
Aimee Mullins photographed by Nick Knight
In 1999, Aimee walked for Alexander McQueen on a pair of hand-carved wooden legs that many in the audience mistook for boots. 
She posed for noted fashion photographer, Nick Knight, who shares her desire to expand the definition of beauty in fashion imagery. Aimee has taken a so-called disability and turned it into an opportunity to create fashion accessories out of her prosthetic legs. Rather than trying to fit in with human-like legs that avoid attention, she highlights her difference and has made it her life’s mission to “celebrate the heartbreaking strengths and glorious disabilities that we all have.”
She shares our view that fashion is a powerful tool for change and says her involvement in fashion has been most effective in raising awareness about the beauty of difference.
“Poetry and whimsy matter. The glamour of the catwalk makes it easy to change someone’s beliefs before they even realise their views have been challenged. It’s more subversive than science or sport”.
To me, Aimee’s greatest achievement is her courage to stand out rather than fit in. What do you think?
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Those McQueen legs are sensational.
Amazing, I know. They upended the whole idea of prostheses looking human and “fitting in” to make them stand out as fashion accessories. The McQueen brilliance never ends!!
You know, I was having mixed feelings about McQueen until I saw this video. I am so glad my post inspired you to learn more about the amazing Aimee. Her message of highlighting difference has profoundly changed my outlook.
Thank you for your email note and for linking back to my post!
I love the way she highlights rather than diminishes her difference, too! It is such an empowering attitude and can be applied to things like height and weight as well.
Yes definitely. We should celebrate everyones differences and be allowed to be who we are or want to be without others judging, in reality this doesn’t really happen and it can take strength to be different.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage; courage which I’m sure I wouldn’t have put in her circumstance. It proves to me among other things how much athleticism and other achievements are in the mind. Her mind told her you don’t need legs to run track and so she did it!
I love the McQueen legs. What a way to stand out rather than fit in. Thanks to Susan and you for sharing this.
Thank you, Paula for reading! I just found out Aimee is speaking at the McQueen exhibit on June 19! I may do a day trip…
Good morning, darling! Sorry about the off topic message, but I wanted to let you know that I left an award on my blog for you today, you can find it here
http://fashionedbylove.blogspot.com/2011/06/awards-and-7-things-about-me.html
Have a great day!
x
Well, what a wonderful surprise to wake up to! Thank you so much. <3
What an amazing story – the different ways people react to their “shortcomings” or trials always interests me. How encouraging
xoxo Maria
She’s proof to me of the power of a positive mind. Our bodies can do anything our minds tell us to.
i saw this posted on ifb and i am so glad that you shared it! that is an amazing speech. as someone with a disability myself, everything she said hits home. my disability has left my my wrists and hands disfigured and, while i can still type these words on the keyboard, many everyday tasks are difficult for me. like opening doors or twisting the lid of the peanut butter jar. i may never feel the joy of a kart-wheel.
the art work that these people have created for her astounds me and makes me see all the imaginative posibilities for my own space, my own blank canvas. the prosthetics for hands aren’t 100% functional just yet, but after seeing how much joy they can bring someone, i may just decide to remove my hands altogether and reimagine them as something else!
it sounds ridiculous to say so, but wouldn’t that be exactly what Aimee is talking about? yes, we would always want to be ourselves, but why can’t we be a better self? if altering our bodies is acceptable when it comes to recreating the image of beauty in ourselves, then i don’t see why we can’t do it on an artistic level. it is beautiful. and it is an extension of the vision in our minds!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Aimee refuses to even describe her difference as a disability and I don’t blame her: she’s a better athlete than me; she can alter her height; she walked for McQueen. She’s more a person to envy/admire than sympathize with. She’s promoting a shift about the way we think about disabilities – not as something we merely make space for but as a gift and something to be celebrated. It is a total re-imagining as you say and opens up new exciting possibilities. She’s speaking at the Met this Sunday in conjunction with the McQueen exhibit on “Art, Beauty and Unique Body” and I’ve decided to make a day trip to see it. I will let you know what she says!