Blind Gen Z activist makes history at Copenhagen Fashion Week

By October 2021, Edwards had become an ambassador and commercial model for Pantene, one of the world’s leading haircare brands. As part of this partnership, Lucy’s key goal was advocating for greater accessibility across the brand’s product lines.

Soon after, Pantene introduced Navilens technology — a QR-style code that allows blind and visually impaired consumers to scan packaging with their smartphones, providing them with crucial product information. This move marked a significant step forward in creating beauty products that everyone can use with ease, regardless of their abilities.

More recently, Lucy has become a brand ambassador for Mattel’s first blind Barbie. Her work has positioned her as a leader in the movement toward more inclusive practices, and her influence is now being felt across the fashion world.

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Sinéad O’Dwyer, the visionary designer behind the collection Lucy modelled, is similarly committed to rethinking inclusivity in fashion.

Sinead’s designs are known for their sculptural approach to celebrating the female body, crafted with a diverse range of women in mind. Unlike many designers who rely on a single sample size, Sinead uses multiple fit models, ensuring that her creations can be worn by all body types.

Her show at Copenhagen Fashion Week, which included audio descriptions and fabric swatches for blind and low-vision guests, was a powerful statement on the importance of inclusivity in fashion.

The collaboration between Lucy and Sinead was a natural fit, then, reflecting their shared values and commitment to representation. As Lucy walked the runway, she not only made history, but also raised an important question: why isn’t this more common?

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For Lucy, the moment was a culmination of years of hard work and advocacy.

More importantly, being welcomed on the catwalk showed that inclusivity doesn’t have to be the exception, but the rule in fashion’s future.

As she continues to break boundaries in two historically uniform industries, Lucy and inclusivity-focused designers like Sinead O’Dwyer are proving that beauty and fashion truly belong to everyone.