Gender without explanation, unapologetic bodies and age without acknowledgement: April Lockhart talks her three takeaways from Copenhagen Fashion Week
Coming into my first Copenhagen Fashion Week last season, I had no idea what to expect. For context, I’m known as a disabled fashion girlie – I was born with a limb difference, and my relationship with style has always been shaped by lived experience.
Fashion weeks, historically, have not been places where I expect to see myself reflected. Copenhagen challenged that almost immediately.
Last season, I stumbled into my first presentation fresh off the plane and found myself doing a double-take. Standing there, jet-lagged, I watched a model with the same arm as mine presented at Kettel Atelier. I went from feeling anxious in a room where I knew no one, in an industry that often feels hierarchical and closed, to feeling unexpectedly at ease. Later that week, Rave Review featured a wheelchair-using model. These moments weren’t loud, but simply part of the show – and they stuck with me.