Is it too big a stretch to merge the conversation of mental health and recovery with something so frivolous as fashion? Alexandra Nyman, LadyCat, a designer whose premiere collection was a line called Therapy inspired by her brother’s struggle with Bi-polar Disorder, doesn’t seem to think so.
LadyCat and her mission are now going on to spearhead a show during New York Fashion Week called Break Free. It is being described as an immersive runway experience of art, design and fashion dedicated to raising awareness around two very pressing social issues: Mental Health and Addiction. Nyman is bringing this conversation to the runway and she is excited to be sharing it with five other extraordinary designers. These designers are Zephyr, Jacqueline City Apparel, Love Disorder, Wu-Sah, and Gloria Lee LLC.
Kelsey, the creative mind behind the brand Zephyr is a proudly queer, disabled, multi-talented artist, designer, and advocate who creates magic in the Pacific Northwest. Over the past year she has focused full time on healing from cptsd, including discovering and understanding her dissociative disorder. As she unearthed her covert system and layers of trauma narrative, she started making self care products and wearable art to soothe internal facets that were feeling safe to express and heal. Now she hopes to use the healing skills and values she has developed to help others care for and express their whole selves.
Jacqueline City is a 24 year old disabled fashion designer and CEO of Jacqueline City Apparel. City suffers from dysautonomia and POTS as well as heart disease and PTSD. City has no professional training and has never taken a design class, but she has been an artist her entire life. Jacqueline taught herself to sew at just 6 years old and even went as a fashion designer to her 2nd grade “career day.” Despite her health challenges, Jacqueline City continued to pursue her art and created Jacqueline City Apparel – a sustainable, vegan clothing line with inclusive sizing and affordable prices, which she deems “the new approach to fashion.”
Inclusivity is important to City; her initial launch included women’s, men’s, unisex, kids and plus sizes up to a 5X. Since JCA’s launch in 2019, City has since gone on to be featured in New York Fashion Week and British Vogue. City was recently honored by Marquis “Who’s Who in America” list for 2021-2022 for her dedication to the future of fashion and her charitable works advocating for the disabled community. Jacqueline City’s greatest passion lies in mentoring young women to go after their dreams and inspiring people through public speaking and sharing her story of hope and recovery.
Love Disorder’s mission is to inform society about mental health issues while teaching how to become aware & accepting of the disorders challenging the world today. Love Disorder is about understanding the disorders we may have and learning how to live with them. We should accept everyone for who they are. Help us make the world more aware by wearing the message.
Svetlana Chernienko is a Canadian-American Mental Health advocate, activist, TV news contributor, and sits at the head of Welcome To My Everyday – A Mental Health Non profit organization founded by Svetlana herself. She is also the CEO and founder of WU-SAH, her latest project. As of this year, Svetlana will be working on her eco-sustainable line, publishing her books around mental health, and striving to reach a bigger audience to shed as much light on Mental Health Awareness as she possibly can.
Gloria Lee™ is a womenswear brand that offers elegant yet romantic dresses that women can wear from day to night. Inspired by mythology, nature, and history, Gloria Lee designs each and every garment with the purpose to highlight women’s innate elegance, beauty, and love for all. The mission of the company is to deliver joy, style, and prosperity to everyone in the world and Earth. It starts with the promise of creating beautiful collections with compostable fibers, collaborating with domestic manufacturers, and embodying production processes (ex: Zero-Waste pattern-making, up-cycled fabrics) that are least harmful to our ecosystem.
A portion of the proceeds for this showcase will go to the nonprofit organization, 10,000 Beds, which was founded in 2014 by Jean Krisle. Jean has worked diligently within and outside of the recovery community to develop long-standing relationships with corporate partners, event sponsors, individual donors, and most importantly, lifelong friendships with leaders across the for-profit and non-profit worlds.
Like Nyman’s first showcase, Therapy, Break Free has garnered the support of many influencers. Returning to the runway is YouTuber Gabi DeMartino, as well as Gabby Fe. And stepping onto the runway in support of this showcase is breast cancer survivor Christine Handy, disabilities activist and real catwalk model Janira Obregon, sober model Jenn Ancelin, and founder of Out Loud Recovery, Martha Duke.
Break Free NYFW will be held on Monday, February 14th at 7pm ET at the Vondue located at 225 W 34th street.
