Hair & Care Make History at Copenhagen Fashion Week, 2024
Hair & Care made Fashion Week history this week, partnering with Sinead O’Dwyer for a second time to create an accessible show. O’Dwyer debuted at Copenhagen Fashion Week with her SS25 collection following her recent win of Zalando’s Visionary Award, and after a successful collaboration at London Fashion Week in February, Hair & Care join O’Dwyer again to bring the element of accessibility to blind and low vision guests – this season, also being able to champion the inclusion of a blind model.
Hair & Care is so proud and honoured to have been able to include Lucy Edwards in the show, blind broadcaster, disability activist and content creator, who graced the runway on Wednesday with her guide dog, Miss Molly. Lucy’s runway debut made history, as the first blind model to ever walk at Copenhagen Fashion Week, and the first to walk for a London designer. Lucy is renowned for her work as a blind activist, and made a perfect fit for the collaboration, highlighting the importance of inclusion, representation and accessibility.
Hair & Care worked closely with Lucy and Sinead’s team to ensure an accessible runway at the Copenhagen Operapark, as well as plenty of rehearsal with a movement director to ensure familiarity of the runway for both Lucy and Miss Molly.
‘The most important thing was to make sure the experience would be safe and accessible for Lucy – from travelling with an airline that she trusts, to ensuring she could sleep in the same hotel as Hair & Care, to securing shuttle buses, time alone with a movement director and perfecting the tactile markings on the catwalk.’ – Anna Cofone, founder of Hair & Care
Lucy’s participation created a meaningful and powerful moment within both the fashion industry and the blind and low vision community.
With a mission to make fashion accessible, Hair & Care is also thrilled to have been able to welcome blind and low vision guests through partnering with the Danish Association of the Blind. Guests were able to listen to pre-recorded audio descriptions of each of the looks, detailing the fabrics and colours worn by the models, as well as feeling swatches of the fabrics used in O’Dwyer’s designs as they were being shown.
As well as heading up Hair & Care, Anna Cofone led on the hair for Sinead’s show, with sponsor Easydry and product support from Authentic Beauty Concept.
‘It was so special having Lucy there as the first blind model to walk at Copenhagen – when we styled Lucy’s hair, we felt the textures and shapes together, so that Lucy could imagine the look. Beauty being accessible for all is so important to us, as is the awareness that if a person is blind, it doesn’t mean they don’t care about their appearance, it’s quite the opposite. Hair and make up can mean so much to a person’s sense of identity and confidence, and we aim to embrace that when creating looks.’ – Anna Cofone
Anna founded Hair & Care with a mission to make the industry accessible for the sight loss community and to support blind and low vision girls through their hair care. Hair & Care is committed to making the industry a space for all, and hope through collaborations like these, to inspire lasting change within the industry.
