How do you find your style when you are visually impaired?

It's not easy to define your look when you can't see, or don't see well. How to find the right cut, combine colors or choose a pattern if you are deprived of your visual abilities? Yet looks are often a factor of inclusion. According to the Fédération des Aveugles de France, 1.7 million people suffer from visual impairment in France, including 207,000 blind and 932,000 visually impaired. This community too often ignored by the mainstream press was highlighted this Monday, December 3 on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. And if the debates are centered around medical progress, the fashion and lifestyle aspect is not insignificant – and booming.

This is also the mission that Hayette Louail, who herself lost her sight at the age of 5, set herself. She created the association Un Regard pour Toi in 2014. The structure is aimed at all visually impaired people, including those with an associated disability.

"Our goal is to help them become independent in everything related to appearance in general: fashion, accessories (especially glasses, often essential, editor's note), jewelry, makeup". For this, several devices have been put in place. First, the recruitment of hand-picked volunteer “personal shoppers” (of the 900 candidates for this position since the launch of the project, less than half were selected following interviews). The latter are on average 35 years old. They accompany members aged 18 to 87 on four-hour shopping sprees, to find everyday outfits, for a job interview, a party or even a wedding.

The importance of touch

The association ensures upstream the compatibility of the pair and ensures that the caregiver sticks to his advisory role: "We don't do makeovers, and we don't impose our tastes “.The budget and the route are defined in advance. With the help of a developer, Un Regard pour Toi has also introduced a patented system of connected chips sewn to clothing and machine washable. They are programmed to contain information such as colors, brands, washing instructions. Then just read them with a smartphone equipped with a voice assistant. This simplifies the organization of the dressing room, the choice of outfits and their maintenance.

Across the world, a few rare brands have introduced braille labeling. In New York, brothers Bradford and Bryan Manning, both suffering from Stargardt disease (a genetic deformation of the retina) created Two Blind Brothers in May 2016. Bradford summarizes their project as follows: “We make clothes of very good quality, comfortable, and we donate the proceeds to blindness research.” The pieces, often in cotton or bamboo, are made by a workshop employing a majority of visually impaired people. The brothers insist on the importance of touch in the selection of materials. They are partners of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, an American foundation created in 1971 dedicated to research around blindness, and supported by personalities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Richard Branson or Ashton Kutcher.

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From celebrities to web superstars

And this speaking out doesn’t just stop at world celebrities. Today, a 3.0 generation is using social networks to bring the issue to the fore. From Canada, superstar youtuber Molly Burke, visually impaired, provides beauty advice to her large community (1,583,849 subscribers to date), whether sighted or not. She even signed contracts with giants like Dove. Lucy Edwards, a pretty British redhead hasn't seen since she was 17. The following year, she also launched her YouTube channel. In 4 years, she has gathered 28,000 subscribers to her "tutorials" on the use of foundation bases, eye shadows, eyeliners, lipsticks and brushes of all kinds. "It's a way to regain control of your body, your life, to fully radiate your personality," she says.

For its part, the association Un Regard pour Toi produces and broadcasts podcasts of clothing advice in a series entitled "Expert Regard". There are episodes like “How do I know if a garment fits me? or "Which materials cannot be ironed?" ". And Hayette Louail, she still has a thousand projects in her drawers. She is currently seeking funding to open a hybrid space with a solidarity shop, a corner for labeling with connected chips, a spot to help with orders on online sales sites (very rarely accessible to voice assistance software ) and a juice bar. However, this industry is still in its infancy. As Stéphanie Thomas, stylist specializing in the handicap explains, the industry for disabled people would be invisible, “the market for dog accessories is larger! she quips during a Ted Talk.

However, the arrival of films such as The Eye of the Tiger, which follows the career of Laurence Dubois, a blind martial arts champion, or Le Grand Bain, about a sports teacher in reduced mobility, is promising. Like these tutorials, they fight against any miserable representation – and to finally give a voice to those concerned.