Like all working mums, Colleen Theriault has her hands full with her 4-year-old son and a full-time career as head baker at a patisserie in the US state of North Carolina.
But the 24-year-old is also an advocate for a budding movement that is breaking into the international fashion scene. Its models, like their initiative, are small but strong.
The International Dwarf Fashion Show, a non-profit organization that aims to “reverse the discriminatory diktats of beauty,” brought seven women with dwarfism to Dubai this week for a show dedicated to raising awareness about the need for more inclusivity in fashion.
“This is the farthest I’ve ever traveled, especially by myself,” Theriault told AFP, after modelling two dresses at the show late Saturday.
“This trip was a big step.”
In shimmering bodycon dresses and bright embellished saris, models from the United States, the Philippines, Italy, Bulgaria and Russia strutted down an impromptu garden runway under heart-shaped arches of flowers.
The show closed with a charismatic model in a bridal dress, her holographic Mary Jane shoes peeking out from under a rose-dotted train.
Zahra Mufaddal Khumri waited for more than two hours with her husband and young daughter to get into Saturday’s show.
After living in Dubai for more than a decade, she recently set up a Facebook support group for individuals and families in the emirate who, like her own, live with dwarfism.
The International Dwarf Fashion Show has attracted worldwide attention since it launched in 2014, taking to the runway during New York Fashion Week, as well as in Tokyo and Paris, supported by France’s culture ministry.
But in Dubai, the show almost did not happen after an 11th hour cancelation, organizers said.
Chalek said there was “chaos, drama, disappointment and anger” when the hotel they had booked canceled on them last minute.
A second hotel also refused to host the show.
While Theriault was anxious to fly back home to her son, she said she was not giving up on working for more inclusivity in the world of fashion and beyond.
“We just want to show them that we’re people just like they are,” she said.
“Everybody just needs to be accepted.”

Source: Arab News