First blind model to catwalk at Copenhagen Fashion Week

It took Lucy Edwards just seconds to make history on the runway of Sinéad O'Dwyer's spring/summer 2025 fashion show as a blind model. The event was part of Copenhagen Fashion Week, held in early August 2024 in the Danish capital.

The 1995-born content creator is the first blind person to catwalk for a London fashion brand.

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 band and two graphic clips on the front. The shirt was paired with matching midi culottes, with a belt. Behind her was a bright neon statue, the same color as the harness for a guide dog.

"Just because someone is blind, it doesn't mean they don't care about their appearance. It's quite the opposite," said Cofone, who runs Hair and Care , a nonprofit that works to expand access to fashion and beauty for the blind.

To honor the memory of her father, who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa and loved to groom and dress up, Cofone founded Hair and Care in 2019. She said the beauty industry, especially hair, is inaccessible to blind and visually impaired people. Getting into a 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 and the first blind Barbie doll

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 Broken . Her story has inspired many other blind people and has led to her being invited to be an ambassador for Pantene and Barbie.

Before showing at Copenhagen Fashion Week in Denmark this August, Lucy visited the UK to see Sinéad's show at London Fashion Week last season.

This show features the Danish Blind Association, designer Sinéad O'Dwyer and Cofone. In addition to inviting blind models to perform, the organizers also invite blind audiences and fashionistas to experience the new collection through a tactile "tour". Accordingly, the audience wears headphones and enjoys fashion with audio recordings for each look. A small book containing fabric samples helps them clearly feel the material and texture of the outfit.

Blind model and her guide dog backstage

Before Lucy Edwards at Copenhagen Fashion Week , there was a fashion show dedicated to the blind held at Paris Fashion Week in 2016. Instead of using tools or guide dogs as usual, blind models performed by holding on to a rope stretched along the catwalk.

Many blind or low vision people walked in this special fashion show, including model Amanda Swafford (former America's Next Top Model contestant), 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.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thoi-trang-tre/nguoi-mau-khiem-thi-dau-tien-catwalk-o-tuan-le-thoi-trang-copenhagen-185240816074237781.htm