After experiencing a terrible tragedy of loosing all of her limbs Karen Crespo gets back on her feet.
Carrie Hammar Youtube Channel
All over the news this week are reports about the latest from New York Fashion Week. There have been many firsts this year, including the debut of Karen Crespo on the runway who is a quadruple amputee who has prosthetic legs and arms. This week, Crespo, aged 31, took a walk on the catwalk and shattered “the modeling world’s glass ceiling,”reported Yahoo! News, Sept. 5.
New York designer, Carrie Hammer, “who prides herself on using ‘Role Models, Not Runway Models’,” had booked Crespo and coincidentally made Fashion Week history last Friday. This was not the first time Hammer made such a note at a fashion event. Carrie Hammer had made news headlines last Spring after booking Danielle Sheypuk to ‘walk’ down the runway. Sheypuk’s appearance on the runway “diversified what beauty in the Fashion Industry looks like,” as Sheypuk, a New York clinical psychologist and 2012’s Ms. Wheelchair, New York took the runway.
Crespo had never been to New York before the invitation. She had been dealing with the painful experience of losing her limbs to an extreme form of bacterial meningitis. In February, the model had read about Sheypuk’s visit to the runway, and had become inspired. She emailed Carrie Hammer, telling the designer her thoughts and expressing her admiration. Hammar replied, flattered by Crespo’s kind words and knew she wanted to work with her. “She sent me the most lovely, touching and down-to-earth email that made me sob,” Hammar said.
Hammar arranged for Crespo to have brand new, specially made prosthetic arms after learning about the woman’s loss. After having had her limbs taken away by the bacterial meningitis, Crespo also had almost $100,000 worth of prosthetics stolen right off of her front porch last year after they had been delivered. “She got the new arms last week,” Hammar related. “That was a total surprise. I told her she had to accessorize!”
Crespo described her moments on the New York Fashion Week’s runway as “surreal.” “There was so much in this for me,” she said, “especially for my confidence. It helped me with having a positive outlook on life. I feel like now I’d be able to go outside and walk with confidence.” This is a huge step for Crespo, as before this opportunity, she would just stay at home and hide. She hopes that seeing her on the runway and hearing her story will inspire others to have the determination and empowered strength “to do anything they set their minds to.”
Hammar is super proud of her runway model and she intends to continue breaking the boundaries of what beauty looks like. With the fashion industry’s unrealistic beauty standards, the designer hopes that the appearance of Sheypuk and Crespo on the runway will set a precedent that will help to transform the fashion industry. "I wanted to take the first step in shifting the trend to powerful women and away from gaunt models," she wrote in an email. "This will start a conversation about the type of models that are cast in campaigns.
This recognition will help pave the way to have healthy restrictions around models and over-photoshopping.”
*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com
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