{"id":13027,"date":"2014-08-27T14:19:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T18:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fashion.parsons.edu\/?p=13027"},"modified":"2018-06-26T10:07:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T14:07:07","slug":"parsons-alum-lucy-jones-passion-universal-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/bfafashion\/parsons-alum-lucy-jones-passion-universal-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Parsons Alum Lucy Jones \u2013 A Passion for Universal Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following blog post is an excerpt from an article, written by Regina Weiss, that\u00a0originally appeared<\/a>\u00a0on the ICS NY Blog.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

In July, Parsons School of Design student Lucy Jones was looking for New Yorkers with disabilities to help\u00a0with her research for the adaptive clothing she designs, and we\u00a0had the opportunity to speak with her about her work.<\/p>\n

The following blog post is an excerpt from an article, written by Regina Weiss, that originally appeared on the ICS NY Blog.<\/p>\n

A native of Wales, Lucy has been designing clothing since she was a teen, but when she came to live in New York to attend Parsons, she found a calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time I realized that there were hundreds of students all wanting the same kind of career in fashion,\u201d Lucy said. \u201cThen I was talking to my cousin Jake, who has epilepsy and hemiplegia, with paralysis down the left side of his body. On the days when Jake\u2019s epilepsy is extreme, his mobility is very poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day I was talking with him on Skype because he was living in Dubai and I was here in New York. I asked him how he was feeling and he said, \u2018The one thing I wish I could do is dress myself.\u2019 I realized that I had never talked with him about this \u2013 people just don\u2019t communicate enough about the practical effects of having a disability. So I said, \u2018How do you dress?\u2019 and he answered, \u2018Oh, mum dresses me.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that conversation I had a huge change of heart. I went to my professors and told them I wanted to work on clothing for people with disabilities. They really encouraged me. Parsons is a school for far more than fashion; it\u2019s industrial design and photography, fine arts, philosophy, music, drama \u2013 it wasn\u2019t hard to get support.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother thing that happened was that my mother broke her leg very badly and she was in a wheelchair for a year. Being with my mum I got to see the struggles for wheelchair users first-hand, and experience how our lives changed because of it. We realized that the house wasn\u2019t accessible; we couldn\u2019t go out. We were in London and mum would get frustrated by the way people would ignore her. Wherever we went people would talk to me and my sister instead of talking to my mum. I told my professors, \u2018Fashion is a very iconic industry; I can use it to have an impact, to help educate people about disability.\u2019 I knew then that this was definitely what I needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Lucy still has a year to go to complete her BA, she has already been recognized as an innovative leader in her field as the recipient of awards from the Royal Society of the Arts, the J.C. Penny Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, among others.<\/p>\n

Deconstructing how people dress<\/h2>\n

\u201cTwo years ago I made a\u00a0video of myself dressing while mimicking my Cousin Jake\u2019s disability<\/a>,\u201d Lucy explained. \u201cI actually couldn\u2019t believe the results because I didn\u2019t know buttons were such a problem! The weight of clothes was also something I\u2019d never thought about. I never realized how clothing in general is just really difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got this idea of creating wide-open trousers.\u00a0 Jake told me, \u2018It\u2019s the moving into the trousers that is the problem.\u2019 So I opened the trousers up and gave him more space and inside loops, which allows him to dress with one hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

To circumvent the difficulty of buttons, Lucy\u2019s initial designs used magnets for closures. \u201cI realize I can\u2019t use them anymore,\u201d she said recently. \u201cI did a lot of research on magnets; wearing them is supposed to be really healthy but magnets do things like wipe the memory on your credit card and collect pins and other items. I won\u2019t use Velcro because it wears out. I am developing an alternative \u2013 that\u2019s one thing I\u2019m working on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of her initial research Lucy interviewed Paralympic world champion swimmer Susie Rodgers and gold medalist Elizabeth Wright. Both women were born with congenital limb deficiencies and were able to explain many of the problems involved in getting into and out of clothes, but Lucy found she needed more of an ongoing partnership with the consumer she had in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo take my research and designs to the next level I needed individuals with disabilities to sit and work with me and I have that now. One woman who responded to my request for help with my research has spina bifida and spends most of her day in a wheelchair. As a result of her paralysis she also has bladder control problems and she asked me, \u2018Why isn\u2019t there any attractive, fashionable, absorbent underwear for people like me?\u2019 S, now I\u2019m going to design that. She is my fit model at Parsons and I will be working my designs around her, but many other people have come forward to help me as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teacher said to me, \u2018Design a project that will change the world\u2019 \u2013 that is how this started. I\u2019ve have the best teachers. Their support has been amazing. They tell me, just keep doing what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about connecting the dots. There are some fascinating things with the way clothes open and close. The way I make garments is so that anyone can wear them, including people in wheelchairs, women who just had breast surgery, or people with poor dexterity or who are arthritic. I realized \u2013 what is needed for clothing is universal design that incorporates not just fashion, but product design and architectural design. That\u2019s what I am aiming for in my clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following blog post is an excerpt from an article, written by Regina Weiss, that\u00a0originally appeared\u00a0on the ICS NY Blog.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nParsons Alum Lucy Jones \u2013 A Passion for Universal Design - Fashion Design<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/bfafashion\/parsons-alum-lucy-jones-passion-universal-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parsons Alum Lucy Jones \u2013 A Passion for Universal Design - 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