GIRL TALK

Werable's Claudia Poh is changing the way we think of adaptive fashion. With her designs, the local designer aims to give people with disabilities the dignity of getting dressed easily.

-  AARON KOK

My first adaptive fashion project was when I was studying at Parsons School Of Design in New York. My teacher was running a non-profit organisation called Open Style Lab, where she ran programmes that brought together fashion design students, engineering students and occupational therapists to design clothes for persons with disabilities.

I was paired with a woman named Christina, who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) syndrome. She wanted a winter coat that she could put on by herself.

It started out as this seemingly innocuous school project, but on the day of the presentation, Christina had mentioned that there were so many simple things she wanted to do – like wearing a coat on her own – but couldn’t. I remember looking at Christina in the audience and it dawned on me that this meant a lot to her. It really affected me and my purpose in life.