Non-profit advocacy organization Aequalis held its “Estilo y Vida” (“Style and Life”) runway show for people with disabilities on Friday last week. The event is an effort to raise awareness of people with disabilities, from blindness to Down’s Syndrome and missing limbs.
To the uninitiated, the event may have seemed a bit strange. Though Pasos de Cristal, a talented dance troupe made up of adults with Down’s Syndrome opened the show, followed by a powerful a cappella number sung by Rosy Lebó, who strode out into the lobby of the late Carlos Slim’s Museo Soumaya, the main event was a runway show.
But unlike your traditional fashion show, this one was not about fashion. Models appeared to wear their own clothes (except the first five of 28 models, who seemed to be wearing the same brand or at least had coordinated their black, motorcycle race-inspired outfits.)
And it looked like a blast to take part in. Poses were runway-ready, turns sharp — especially those made by a model in a tight-handling wheelchair.
This is good, because the act of the near-capacity crowd’s looking was at the heart of “Estilo y Vida.” The event focuses on the imagery of placing people with disability on a runway, sending them down to strut and turn to overwhelming amounts of applause from families, friends and others who come to cheer on the models.
Some brought service dogs to flounce down the runway with them. Others were pushed in wheelchairs. The show’s climax came in the form of a woman in a fluttering, multi-level formal gown, who pushed her own wheelchair in front of her.
Aequalis has clearly decided the event’s popularity deserves many repeats, and with a $200 peso ($10.69 U.S.) ticket price, it seems like the organization is raising a lot of money for its programs.
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