KANYA SESSER

New York Fashion Week is world-renowned for its spectacles. The entire industry turns its eager attention to each show, anticipating the opportunity to behold something never before seen. It’s a high standard to meet, and many shows fall short, but heads turned when Kanya Sesser hit the runway on her skateboard.

- CHARLIE CONNELL

She wasn’t the first model to bring a skateboard onto the runway, but Sesser is in a league of her own, because she was born without legs. By representing the fashion brand Smock Me, the tattooed action-sports aficionado and actress didn’t intend to just give the show a bit of edge, she proved that people with disabilities can accomplish anything they put their mind to, even at an event with a sketchy track record when it comes to inclusivity.

“I’ve had this dream since I was young to walk down on my hands or skate down the runway,” Sesser says. “I think it’s so incredibly amazing how we’re trying to get inclusion of disabilities in the fashion world. That powerful moment when I went down there and I stood at the end, people were like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ It just showed that anything was truly possible.”