I love combining problem-solving and aesthetics, with the body as my focal point. That’s why it’s been natural for me to work with design, art, and fashion. I’m working with my brand, Lou Dehrot, at the same time that I’m completing my master’s degree at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås. My life was forever changed when I was ten years old; I lost most of the use of my legs after a spinal-cord injury caused by an immunological overreaction. One of the strongest driving forces for my creativity is seeing possibilities to influence representation and opening avenues to a more body-inclusive fashion world.
In 2017, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås. I received a scholarship for my collection, “Have a Seat”, from Gina Tricot and other sponsors. It was an investment in my new company where I could continue to investigate and develop body inclusiveness in fashion and media.
The collection was shown during Fashion Week in Stockholm, London, and Brussels. It was also planned to be part of Copenhagen Fashion Week, but I was not allowed to show the collection on wheelchair users, so I chose to withdraw it. However, I did so with this goal in mind: “Even if the collection won’t be at CPHFW, the discussion about body inclusiveness will be there.”
The CPHFW situation motivated significant involvement and has been important in the issue of body inclusiveness in fashion. Just after that, I was asked to show items from the collection in the “Design Stories” exhibition at the National Museum in Stockholm. The collection has also appeared in “Norm Form” for ArkDes at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, in “A Queen within: Adorned Archetypes” at NOMA in New Orleans, at MoPOP in Seattle, and most recently in “Body beautiful – diversity on the runway” at the Textile Museum in Borås.
I want to develop the perception of the body in the fashion scene. I want to leave my mark, and give people a reason to reflect. Inspire people to see problems as potential solutions. Make the wheelchair an aid that’s accepted on the same level as eyeglasses, and elevate the body – as it is, irrespective of appearance, form, or function – to a part of fashion that’s just as normal as a mannequin in a shop window.
At the moment I am studying for a masters degree at the Swedish School of Textiles where i work conceptually rith fashion and design, I also work with everyday garments in collaboration with brands since we yet do not have any production possibilities.
Feel free to follow the journey for a more inclusive and representative fashion industry.
xxx Lou
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