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Style
A fresh look at disability fashion
Love is in the air
Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year when we can really let our romantic nature run wild, but what is “romance”? Mik Scarlet finds that it’s many things to many people
A fashionista of our own
She can count some of the biggest high street names among her clients. And some are talking of her as the disabled Gok Wan. Mik Scarlet meets model and designer Kay Dixon
Mik's tips for a cool yule
Our very own Santa Baby, Mik Scarlet, ho-ho-hopes that his tips for taking the shop out of Christmas shopping will bring joy to the world
Custom made: Chariots of Style
When it came to his Model T, Henry Ford said you could have any colour you liked as long as it was black. Mik Scarlet looks at how personal statements can be made by customising your wheelchair
Mik's doing the other thing
From the big hair and drainpipes of the 1950s through classic punk anti-attitude to what’s new, Mik Scarlet says that the alternative fashion scene may be just the place to look for something to help you give people something to look at
How not to be a stick-in-the-mud
As the Summer sun sets on your last regret for that festival you once again didn’t get to go to, Mik Scarlet ploughs through the mud to find the best advice on how to be prepared for next year’s festival season
Making all the right moves
If the public think of disabled people dancing they tend to either think of some kind of therapy session or the BBC’s major TV let-down Dancing on Wheels. But the truth is that disabled people are kicking at the doors of the professional dance industry. Mik Scarlet chats with deaf dancer and choreographer Mark Smith
Attention all Petrol Heads
Faced with the possibility of taking part in a season’s competitive motor sport, Mik Scarlet couldn’t wait to take to the track and say move over Stig
Chairs, scooters, stairs and style
Going to Naidex 2011, Mik Scarlet’s hopes of finding cool were not high. But this year’s show pushed more style buttons than he thought it ever could
Mik's guide to getting hitched
With talk of weddings everywhere at the minute, Mik Scarlet chimes in with the zeitgeist and offers a free wedding planner service for anyone thinking about tying the knot in the future
When Lara met Mik
As Lara Masters bows out as Disability Now’s fashion and style monitor, she hands her badge to Mik Scarlet who takes the chance to have one last chat with his predecessor
Dressing for yourself
For an old style-trouper like Lara Masters, dressing to her advantage comes naturally. But how does someone confronted with a whole new physical shape learn those tricks
A kind of dating
What’s not available online. Food, booze, books, clothes: all there at the click of a mouse. Even love or lust. The internet overcomes many access issues for disabled people but, asks Lara Masters, does it also help level the playing field when it comes to cyber-courting?
If you think you're sexy...
Disabled and sexy! Is that an oxymoron? Not according to Lara Masters and some of the people she's talked to who are heading off into 2011
Fickle fashion's crip craze
It seems that the latest must-have accessory for Autumn/Winter 2010 is a disabled model with fashion shows full of disabled models springing up left, right and slightly off-centre. But, asks Lara Masters, is this a trend that's got legs, wheels or crutches or is it just a flash in the fashion pan
Lara's quest for crip chic
Asked to open Naidex South-East, the big disability trade show at London's ExCel centre, with her mum, Debbie Moore, founder of Pineapple Dance Studios, Lara Masters used the opportunity of having an audience of OTs, local authority employees and disabled people to explore whether having a disability is made harder psychologically when the equipment you have to use makes your home environment alienating and hospital-like and makes you feel like a medical case
What Kitty did next
Emmerdale star Kitty McGeever talks to Lara Masters about being blind, Lizzie Lakely and why she loves geisha girls with rockabilly hairstyles!
Lara's fashion let-down
An evening in London's trendy Knightsbridge district promised Lara Masters glitz, splendour and diversity. But ultimately, she says, it failed to deliver
Clare's loving her legs
Clare Smith featured on How to Look Good Naked's disability special, but before the programme aired, her husband was killed. Amazingly, Clare's Gok-inspired confidence is helping her cope with her loss. Lara Masters finds out about the transformational impact a makeover has had on her life
Fashion is Betty's bag
Betty Jackson CBE is one of the UK's most celebrated fashion designers. With a multi award-winning career spanning almost four decades, Lara Masters asks amputee Betty how she survives the fashion industry so seamlessly
Everything including the kitchen sink
If you’re disabled, image can’t always be everything, there are pesky practicalities to consider too. But Lara Masters discovers that when it comes to kitchens, it is possible to have both style and substance
Roxanne Louise is modelling diversity
“If you don’t have the courage to shout, give me your words”; 19 year-old model Roxanne Louise Steel is on a mission to change the face (and body) of the media and tells Lara Masters how we can all help
Tanni on track for The Lords
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson is one of the country’s most influential women in sport today with a slew of Paralympic gold medals as well as an MBE, an OBE and a DBE to her name and she’s about to become a Baroness with the power to vote and lobby in the House of Lords – but what Lara Masters really wants to know is; what is she going to wear
Sandy's passion for fashion
“Becoming disabled changes your identity,” writer Sandy Sulaiman tells Lara Masters. “I’m a great advocate of using image to boost self-esteem and manipulate the reactions of others”
Revealed...and looking good
Channel 4 show How to Look Good Naked starts the New Year with three programmes featuring disabled women. Host Gok Wan, who was initially unsure about including disability in the show, bares all to Lara Masters
Fight for your right to par-tee
Party season beckons and the pressure is on to follow the Beastie Boys’ call to arms but, before you reach for those flashing antlers, Lara Masters has some tips for surviving the Yuletide festivities with style (and a disability)
Cerrie's sense of herself
Children’s TV presenter Cerrie Burnell tells our style guide Lara Masters about her ambitions beyond where she is now and how her own sense of self will help her get there
Customise satisfaction
Walking aids like wheelchairs, walking sticks and crutches are not made with style in mind but an ugly grey crutch or utilitarian looking wheelchair can really ruin an outfit. Lara Masters looks at ways to style up mobility gear and say bye bye to bad chair days
Discovering bodies beautiful
In Western society, women are scrutinised for the way they look and presented with a succession of aesthetic hoops to jump through; it’s hard for even the most agile female to keep up so, ponders Lara Masters, how does physical disability shape how women see themselves and others see them
Lara and the trike tribe
Is it the whiff of petrol, the creak of leathers, the roar of the engine or the promise of speed which has turned Lara Masters into a would-be girl racer
Top model, still missing
More than a year on, Kelly Knox tells Lara Masters that she’s still battling for recognition despite winning Britain's Missing Top Model
Lara's clothes show close-up
All eyes and teeth – how Lara Masters’ partial make-over failed to impress Katie Price’s minder
Lara's other look
When we asked our style councillor Lara Masters to kit herself out for 50 quid from the high street she almost, in desperation and protest, submitted a photo of herself naked. Will she fare any better with “alternative fashion”
A splash of political colour
Lara Masters asks Political Correspondent Gary O’Donoghue about becoming one of the most familiar faces on the BBC and keeping up appearances in an image-obsessed industry
Lara's high street lows
As Disability Now’s fashionista, Lara Masters’ mission was to find an ensemble – codeword Bigstyle – for under 50 quid from high street stores. Her first task, finding shops she could get into
Bluffing it out in Dublin
Two deaf poker players, Bassim Baz and Nick Gregory put their cards on the table for Cathy Reay
Sweet charity
With the high street feeling the economic winter chill, Lara Masters discovers that you don’t need to spend a million bucks to look a million bucks
A taste of freedom
David Morris’s day job as senior policy advisor to Boris Johnson is highly political. But, as for many people whose childhood was spent in institutions, eating and cooking also have political overtones, as he tells Ian Macrae
Opportunity Knox
Britain’s Missing Top Model winner Kelly Knox has moved seamlessly from credit controller to catwalk model. But, she tells Cathy Reay, she’s not going to fall for the celebrity lifestyle
Fork music
Ambassade de L’Ile is more than just another swanky London restaurant, and Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex is more than just its owner and chef. As Ian Macrae found out, it’s a little piece of Lyon in south Kensington
Wheelie beautiful
After only a year in business, WheelieChix is making its name on the catwalks. Kelly Mullan talked to its founder, Louisa Summerfield, about its progress and took a look at its autumn/winter collection
Lara Masters: the fascinator
The presenter, model, milliner and judge on Britain’s Missing Top Model reflects on reforming the fashion industry, disability politics… and hats
Cutting it! Seema's salon days
Running a hairdressing salon might not seem like the easiest way of making a living if you’re visually-impaired, but for Seema Flower it has proved the perfect career move. Nuala Calvi reports
Looking good, feeling great
First impressions can be crucial, particularly at job interviews. So volunteers from the charity, fashion and beauty sectors came together for a style advice session for six visually-impaired women. Linn Martinussen reports
Tailor made for the great
The Tanni&Anni clothing range may be aimed at disabled people, but it replicates high street style and price, says Annie Makoff
Shaping up to look good
Having a different body shape doesn’t have to mean you’re a fashion victim, says Michael Shamash
It's not easy being green
Can you be cool, green and disabled asks writer and performer Penny Pepper
Kim’s wheelchair chic
Kim Tserkezie, aka Penny Pocket from the CBeebies show, Balamory, gives us her views on fashion, including two new collections for wheelchair-users.