It took Lucy Edwards just seconds to make history on the Sinéad O’Dwyer spring/summer 2025 runway as a blind model. The event was part of the Copenhagen Fashion Weekheld in early August 2024 in the capital of Denmark.
The catwalk featured the most diverse range of models (body type, skin tone, etc.) Lucy Edwards wore a cream waxed cotton pajama-style long-sleeved shirt with French seams, adjustable chest straps and two graphic clips on the front. The shirt was paired with matching midi culottes, complete with a belt. Behind her was a bright neon statue, the same color as the harness for a guide dog.
Cofone, operator Hair and Care“Just because someone is blind, it doesn’t mean they don’t care about their appearance. Quite the opposite,” says the nonprofit organization that works to expand access to fashion and beauty for the blind.
To preserve the memory of his father, who lost his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa and loved to groom and dress well, Cofone founded Hair and Carein 2019. She said the beauty industry, especially hair, is inaccessible to blind and visually impaired people. Getting into a hair salon is a challenge because most people don’t know how to communicate with a blind person. Cofone’s organization offers workshops to teach blind people how to style their hair. She helped Lucy Edwards make history in the fashion industry.
Lucy Edwards lost her sight at the age of 17 due to a rare genetic mutation called incontinentia pigmenti. The 28-year-old shares her journey to self-acceptance in her memoir. Blind, Not BrokenHer story inspired many other blind people and helped her be invited to be an ambassador for Pantene and Barbie.
Before performing at Copenhagen Fashion Week In Denmark in August this year, Lucy went to England to see Sinéad’s show at London Fashion Week last season
This year’s show featured the Danish Blind Association, designer Sinéad O’Dwyer and Cofone. In addition to inviting blind models to perform, the organizers also invited blind audiences and fashionistas to experience the new collection through a tactile “tour”. Accordingly, the audience wore headphones and enjoyed fashion with audio recordings for each look. A small booklet containing fabric samples helped them clearly feel the material and texture of the outfit.
Before Lucy Edwards at Copenhagen Fashion Weekonce had a fashion show dedicated to the blind held at Paris Fashion Week2016. Instead of using tools or guide dogs as usual, blind models performed by holding on to a rope stretched along the catwalk.
Several blind and partially sighted people walked in this special fashion show, including model Amanda Swafford (a former contestant on America’s Next Top Model), Katia Hadjeb; or Miss April Lufriu and her daughter Savannah (both have retinitis pigmentosa)… These fashion shows show that anyone can be a part of fashion and that blind people can do anything, including catwalk.