Enough Is Enough

Fashion, to me, is essential; it tells the world who I want to be in one moment in time. I am a twenty-four year old professional working woman yet the clothes I want to wear are not designed for people like me, people living with dwarfism. Pants, skirts, dresses, and sometimes shirts are almost always too long and often I find myself leaving something I want on the rack because I know, once alterations are made, too much of what I love would wind up on the cutting room floor. For a long time I had simply accepted that this was how my fashion experience was meant to be. After all, I’m not artistic and cannot sew (yet). But then it was announced that Her Royal Highness Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was going to be the guest editor of the September issue of British Vogue. On the cover, she featured fifteen forces of change- powerful women who are changing the world. One woman made history as the first little person to be featured on the cover. She was also the first (and as I’m writing this she remains the only) little person to attend the Met Gala. She is making her voice heard in a world that was not designed for people like us. Her name is Sinéad Burke. Having read her story I decided that I needed to be an advocate for little people in the fashion industry. For almost my entire life I have advocated not only for myself but for other little people and others who are different from the standard norm.

President Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” I’m no longer waiting on the sidelines or standing in the wings; I’m making myself seen and my voice heard. I have decided my first step will be writing this blog. I will write about my shopping experiences, both the struggles and the triumphs, the process of trying to fit in a world that was not designed for me, my inspirations in both fashion and life, and everything in between. Nothing is off-limits.

Are you ready? I am.