MINNEAPOLIS — This story is a part of Lifting Voices, a new KARE 11 Franchise highlighting underrepresented communities.
It's currently New York Fashion Week, the time when all the big names of fashion from all over the world gather and hold runway shows... bringing forward the newest and most cutting edge.
Well there was a first-of-its-kind show last week, that lifted the voices of the models who rocked that runway.
Rachel and Otto Knutson were two models in the show. The Minneapolis mother, son (and dad Evan, behind the scenes), traveled to New York, to hit the runway of Double Take Fashion Show that took place just before NYFW's main show. Double Take was sponsored by Genentech, a biotechnology company as a part of their "SMA My Way" program.
When Rachel and Otto hit the runway, it was clear--all eyes were on the Minnesota 2-year-old.
"A huge character when he goes into the room," Rachel described Otto, "And you definitely turn heads don't you?" she said to Otto, who sat in his wheelchair next to the couch.
Donning a popsicle-laden suit and matching VANS sneakers with his mom, Otto was a part of the show put together by the Spinal Muscular Atrophy community, championing adaptive and stylish clothing.
"We were really excited to actually have somebody be interested in making clothes that might fit him," Rachel said. "Because even after the first two years, we're starting to see a lot of discrepancies, between just clothing for typical children. Then you add in gender to it - boys clothes are a lot more baggier in general."
Evan, watching his son from the audience, said seeing other folks who also have SMA made him look forward to the future.
"Seeing him with that suit on, just filled my head with thoughts of him - rolling at graduation, him, going to his first professional job interview," Evan said. "Him - going and doing all of these things that we're so hopeful he'll be able to do one day."
In the meantime, the Knutsons are hoping more designers will think about differently-abled bodies.
"There's a lot in the disabled community that people take for granted and judge," Rachel said. "As able-bodied people we just assume that they don't care about that thing, or they don't care about fashion as much as we do. They are individuals, you know?"
"Seeing disabled people - having that visibility there, is so so important because we feel like so often in Otto's daily life, when we are out in public, he is either not seen or he is seen but stared at," Evan said.
But most importantly, both Rachel and Evan said their 2-year-old seemed to enjoy the show a whole lot.
"I think I was most nervous about how he would react, because that's a big crowd for a little guy who has never been in a big crowd," Rachel said. "But he did fantastic. You loved it didn't you? You said 'Woo!'"
If you have any stories you'd like to see, lifting the voices of others, send us a pitch at liftingvoices@kare11.com.
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