Yukari Ishida
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

I was the only visually impaired person to participate in a charity fashion show as a model. The show’s aim of donating to a project to open a hospice for children was called "Love is All-Resonance" and was held in Sapporo on July 17^th. In this article, I'll share my experience of attending the fashion show, including how, as a blind person, I became interested in fashion.

Until I found my own fashion

Since I was 1 year and 3 months old, I (now totally blind) have no memory of seeing colors or fashion magazines. Until the sixth grade of elementary school, I just wore the clothes my mother set out for me every morning and went to school. The teacher at the school for the blind that I attended at the time thought that it was a problem that a 12-year-old girl didn't know the color of the clothes she was wearing and wasn't even interested in what she was wearing either. The teacher wrote a message to my mother to please tell me the color of all the clothes I had, and then let me choose the clothes for each morning. The teacher continued to comment on the coordination of my clothing for one year. The teacher would say such things as "Today's color suits you" and "Today's top and bottom color combinations are a little strange". This was the reason why I started to choose clothes myself, but at that time I still wasn't interested in fashion, and it was truly annoying listening to the teacher’s comments.

 It wasn't until I started living in a dormitory as a college student that I began to choose clothes at the store and worry about trends in the world. At various stores, I did things like check the coordination of clothing that the mannequins were wearing by touch, and went shopping with friends who were confident in fashion and asked them to choose clothes for me. At that time, I still didn't know the designs and colors that suited me best and I tried to coordinate myself in all black clothing or suddenly started to wear flashy clothing which shouldn’t have looked good on me, when I think about it now. And my strange fashion made my high school teachers worry.

The opportunity to participate in a fashion show

Around the time when I was in the third year of college, I finally learned the way to wear makeup and the fashions that suited me. First, I've come to realize that light pink, light blue, and white look better on me, rather than dark colors such as black and deep red. If I want to add dark colors, navy blue and gray suit me well. Using makeup is similar. I also learned that leopard, and other loud patterns don't look good on me because of my small build.

Due to the fact that I have no eyesight, I cannot look at myself in the mirror. When I do check how I look, however, I am particular about the silhouette and lines when I wear clothes. Personally, I think that one-piece dresses that fit my particular body line and with some flare added would be best. That is how I chose the dress for the fashion show that I will introduce later.

Anyway, the opportunity for participating in the fashion show came when, for work, I appeared on the radio and the woman who was the hostess of the program invited me to a fashion show that she was planning on hosting. Even though we have opportunities to participate in fashion shows for people with disabilities, we rarely hear from regular fashion shows, so I decided to give it a shot and appear because I thought it would be interesting. The models of the fashion show had a walking lesson with Miss World Japan finalist Namika Yoshino in advance, but according to the organizer, she also had bad eyesight, so we put our heads together and thought of how I could successfully perform a walking lesson. There were 30 models who participated in the dress show and 2 additional pairs who also participated in the costume show which came to a total of 34 people. More than 20 of the dress show models were Miss Con finalists and had semi-Grand Prix backgrounds, a few housewives, one junior high and high school student, and I made up the members.

Until that day, dresses and shoes were semi-custom-made via the organizer, and professional hair and makeup staff who came to the venue the day of the show.

My first fashion show

When I participated in a regular fashion show, I was the only blind person in attendance, I thought that there were various situations where it was difficult to keep up with everyone, but at the same time, I felt that everything would somehow turn out.

The venue was a fashionable wedding hall, but there were many barriers that were too difficult for those who with visual impairment to navigate. It was a two-story building with a marble floor and narrow glass stairs with spaces between the steps. In buffet style, fashion show participants and members of the audience could freely use this glass staircase to go back and forth between the first and second floors, and the terrace, while being able to have a snack or drink wherever they like. It's a fashionable, free and gorgeous venue, but the music and noise that echoed throughout the venue made it the most difficult place for individuals with visual impairments to grasp the situation and what is going on.

Fortunately, the stage was at the same level as the floor for walking, so even if I went off course, I would just run into the audience seats rather than fall off a stage. However, as soon as I got on stage, I had to walk straight for the first 20 steps, but it was very difficult for me, because of my disability, to navigate straight across a large venue in the middle of so much noise. I used the grooves in the floor tiles to walk straight. Having said that, finding the grooves in the tiles with the tip of my white cane and not going off course for those 20 steps, however, was quite nerve-wracking.

Walk 20 steps and pose, turn around and walk 4 steps to the left to pose. Then turn around again and go back 4 steps to make the final pose. Whether I could even make a 90 degree or 180-degree change in direction in the middle of blaring noise and even moving 4 steps would put me off course with the floor tiles, so if the angle shifts here, I would become disoriented in the middle of the venue. There was a green tape that signifies the position where the pose should take place, but I, being blind, relied only on the number of steps for my positioning. It seems, however, that the venue organizers rejected my request to put a string under the tape so as to understand my position by feeling the string by stepping on it.

We headed for the actual performance while only practicing 3 times, 2 times for walking lessons, and 1 rehearsal. As for individuals with visual impairments, we become used to things and get a feel for them through practice, which I wanted a little more of. It's more awkward when practicing because, for me, it's more important to keep track of the tile grooves than to walk and look beautiful. The organizer even suggested that it may be better for me to walk with someone’s guidance, and I could leave my white cane behind.

However, for me, there is a definite meaning involved in having individuals with visual impairments appear at fashion shows as models. Also, it was important to use a white cane, even though at first glance it might be seen as a hindrance or something that just gets in the way at the dress show. I wanted to use the conspicuous white cane as a unique tool that can only be used by me, so with some acquaintances, we thought of three poses that included me using the white cane.

When there were people in the audience, a seemingly large venue felt smaller, so it was easier for me to walk in a straight line. Applause every time I posed, also, gave me a sense of my position in proximately to the audience which allowed me to make small corrections in direction. So, in an unexpected way appearing in the actual performance was easier for me to navigate.

Finally, I would like to introduce what happened behind the scenes at the fashion show that I was most happy with. It was a woman with a background in the Miss Earth Japan Hokkaido Semi-Grand Prix and another woman who was a finalist of that same contest who both were with me at times other than the actual appearing in the show. When the semi-Grand Prix woman took me for a drink and while standing in line, another woman said to her "I'm sorry, I left taking care of Yukari all to you. Thank you for your help." The semi-Grand Prix woman’s answer at the time was simply, "We're just having fun together." For some reason, when people with disabilities participate in fashion shows, the atmosphere in the venue becomes one of surprise and excitement. However, when I spent a lot of time interacting with others, I came to feel that someone was watching me and making sure that I wasn’t alone, getting food, etc. Over time, this atmosphere of surprise and excitement gradually subsided.

Because this time the fashion show was for charity, it seems that walking beautifully was not the criteria for judging. The judge said that I had the biggest aura in the actual performance, so I won the special prize.