All-rounder Carol Taylor wears many hats, all of them fashionable. Lawyer and artist Carol recently displayed her adaptive clothing designs in the Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival (MBFF) Next Gen Group Show in Brisbane. Carol has been designing her own clothes since a car accident left her quadriplegic. She says she has 18 years of lived disability experience and shopping frustration!
“My only real experience of the fashion industry is being the one-in-five consumers with a disability who can’t find what they want when they go shopping,” Carol said.
“My collection was born out of necessity. The name of the label is MeQ Designs which is a play on words, because when I go shopping I want to scream ‘me too!’. The Q, of course, stands for Quad.”
In 2018, Carol won the Access Arts Achievement Award, receiving support with industry connections, and $10,000 funding to use towards a project. She used these resources to place her art onto fabric and create wearable art for people with physical disability.
Carol says winning the Access Arts Achievement Award last year gave her the confidence to follow her artistic path, which has landed her at the MBFF.
“This experience was not just a wonderful opportunity to showcase my artwork and adaptive clothing designs. It was an opportunity to shine a well overdue spotlight on the issue of fashion inclusivity and, if I may say so, I think we did that rather well.”
We certainly agree, and we can’t wait to see what Carol does next!
Through a range of programs, Access Arts works with people with disability or disadvantage to create opportunities to excel in the arts.
