Izzy Camilleri is a person who knows how good fashion can make you feel. The ability to dress the way you want, to effortlessly change clothes according to your mood and let it represent you is a wonderful feeling, and something a lot of us take for granted.
Fashion isn't as easy for some people as it is for others. People in wheelchairs, for example, have trouble with coats. According to Ms. Camilleri, "Imagine putting on a coat while you are sitting down. You are going to end up with a coat puddled on your waist. So a lot of people go winter after winter with a short bomber jacket or no coat, and they get rained on or snowed on."
The market for simple, everyday pieces that can be used effortlessly by wheelchair users is outdated and virtually unexplored, so Izzy Camilleri decided to change it. She launched IZ Collection 7 years ago, shifting her focus from her previously thriving career as a celebrity designer to making adaptive clothing for people who don't have many options.
She doesn't want young and fashionable wheelchair users to be stuck in clothing that looks like it was "designed in the early 70's and never updated". IZ Collection makes coats, jeans, tops and work-wear custom made to be easy for wheelchair users. While the collection is still just starting out and doesn't have the exposure it needs yet, here's hoping it takes off to serve a market that truly needs her unique eye and passion for adaptive clothing.
But Izzy isn't done yet. She also recently collaborated with a foundation called Starlights Children's Foundation Canada, that came up with unique hospital gowns for teens in hospitals.
If you watch the video, you can see how much these kids like having the choice to wear what they want. Being forced to wear the same, uninteresting things as everyone else is something a lot of us don't have to worry about, so why should sick teens? Why should wheelchair users?
It's the same concept from her adaptive clothing line: Fashion should be for everyone. Having the option to express yourself and your style through what you wear is an incredibly empowering and amazing feeling, and should be something everyone gets.
Izzy Camilleri is doing a lot to reach out to people the fashion industry isn't taking seriously, and hopefully other designers will follow her cue and start exploring this incredibly rich and deserving market.
You can see IZ Collections amazing pieces here:
