A fashion show where fashion students realize the wishes of people with severe disabilities

The “Adaptive Fashion Show” is a project launched in 2023 as part of public awareness activities to showcase, through a fashion show with fashion students, the desire of people with severe disabilities to “dress stylishly” despite significant impairments.

This event emphasizes the process of communication between models with severe disabilities and fashion students, and aims to realize a symbiotic society through fashion. Based on each model’s individual concerns, fashion students create inclusive designs that are easy to wear and easy to dress. In the lead‑up to the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, the project is expanding activities from Osaka to the world to promote a society in which everyone can enjoy fashion.

Project Inauguration

Through hands‑on experience at welfare facilities, it became apparent that service users often face difficulties finding appropriate attire for occasions such as family weddings or funerals. The sight of users wearing complex, unfamiliar expressions at those events left a strong impression. There was also a sense of unease about the acceptance of attending ceremonial occasions in tracksuits as “just the way it is.”

From the desire to create a society where everyone can readily obtain clothing that combines functionality and design and can be chosen to suit the occasion, this project was launched.

Project Activities

To date, two Adaptive Fashion Shows have been hosted, and this year the project’s activities have expanded with appearances in other groups’ shows, including events connected to the Kansai Expo.

Through costume production, students interact with people with severe disabilities, rediscover the fundamentals of garment making, and apply an adaptive‑fashion perspective to job hunting—providing a significant learning opportunity. The initiative is also felt to promote social participation by people with severe disabilities.

Future Prospects for the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai

The project has a strong impact on all participants in advancing a symbiotic society.

However, adaptive fashion for people with severe disabilities remains a global minority field, and its awareness and actual conditions are not yet widely known. Going forward, the project must be further developed to better meet the real fashion needs of people with severe disabilities.

The EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai will be used as an opportunity for global outreach and co‑creation, and the project aims to participate.