(PULSING ELECTRONIC MUSIC) The fashion world is known for its beauty and unobtainable perfection. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Traditionally, models have been young, slim and fit. It's rare to have seen this challenged. This year, Milan Fashion Week is being disrupted by inclusion and disability. Hi. I'm Claire, and I'm a model in Milan. (LIVELY ELECTRONIC MUSIC) (ROMANTIC ITALIAN-STYLE MUSIC) Milan is famous for being one of the fashion capitals of the world, and Milan Fashion Week is certainly an event which is all that is exciting, exquisite and exclusive. The suburb of Malpensa is about an hour out of central Milan, and this hotel is going to be model boot camp for the next two days, where they'll be fitted couture garments and taught tricks to impress on the catwalk. Hi. MAN: Welcome, Madame. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Grazie. A room for Iulia Barton, Claire Freeman. Yeah. This is your key to 14. 38-year-old Claire Freeman is one of the models chosen from around the world to represent Iulia Barton Inclusive Fashion Industry at Milan Fashion Week. Grazie. Enjoy your stay, Madame. OK, Madame. First door here on the right side. OK. Claire is not only the oldest in the show; she's the only tetraplegic, which means all four limbs are affected by her injury. Oh, and she's never modelled on the catwalk before. Modelling is something I'm not familiar with at all. I've never really seen myself as a model, but I do have an Instagram account, and it's quite a popular Instagram account. So I think that's one of the reasons why they've chosen me to be in the show ` is because there are a lot of people that are interested in my story. Due to Claire's high needs, she has a carer almost 24-7, and travelling without one was a huge challenge. There's little sleeping or eating on board, and navigating airline toilets are no mean feat, especially when you have a broken neck. From New Zealand to Europe, it takes close to 40 hours. I don't sleep on the plane. It's quite a bit of stress due to stopovers, making sure the wheelchair is brought up to the gate and managing a whole lot of personal things as well. To be honest, it is like a form of torture ` (CHUCKLES) 40 hours, not having sleep. When I got the call and I got the tickets to come over, it was just a mad panic to find people to help me, but I was really lucky because I managed to get hold of a friend who was gonna be in Milan as well. He'll be just helping quietly in the background. Being here in Milan, it's totally surreal. Certainly, two years ago, if you'd said to me, 'You're gonna be in Milan, Claire, 'being a model on a catwalk,' I would have laughed. But here I am. It is completely and utterly surreal but exciting and terrifying at the same time. What am I doing here? (CHUCKLES) But, you know, life is crazy. I know that from my injury, so it's sort of... it's just one of those things, and you gotta take risks, and that's what I'm doing, and... (ZIP WHIZZES) ...just see how it goes. See how it goes. Yeah. So, I did a post just before I left. I was actually breaking in some heels that we are wearing in the show. And I just wanted to, I guess, express... where I was with regards to this whole experience. (SOFT MUSIC) READS: So here I am, breaking in these heels before my trip across the world, 'while packing as little as I can. I only pack what I can carry. 'It seems surreal to me that two years ago, I was at my lowest and darkest point. 'I was suicidal. I'd lost my job and more muscle movement due to botched neck surgery. 'I couldn't see getting through the day, let alone seeing a future. 'But life is a strange thing, and sometimes ` not always, but sometimes ` you get lucky. 'Two years ago, I made a decision; as the saying goes ` get busy living or get busy dying. 'I picked myself up and made new goals.' (GENTLE MUSIC) Claire Freeman was your typical Kiwi girl. But at age 17, her life changed forever. She was in a car accident, which occurred when her mother fell asleep at the wheel. She broke her spine and became tetraplegic. Over the next 15 years, Claire adapted to life with a disability, building a successful career as a graphic designer. She was independent and very much an individual. In 2015, an operation to correct a crumbling vertebrae went wrong. Claire was left with a higher level of disability. She fell into depression. With support, Claire climbed out of the darkness. She started studying for her PHD and, with the encouragement of her friends, started an Instagram account, where she shared her story,... which just happens to be where Claire was discovered by an Italian fashion agency. Thus this fashionista was born. I've never considered myself, I guess, a role model or anything. But if someone else can pick up something positive from what I'm doing, then that's fantastic, and I've just, sort of, shared my story and said, 'Look, you can have an injury and still, you know, crazy things can happen.' Here I am, getting ready in Milan, being a model on a catwalk. (SOFT, AMBIENT MUSIC) All the other models are arriving at the hotel. Claire has to brave her natural shyness to overcome the meeting and greeting. Cos you hear, like, if you play with your hair, it's like, 'Come and have sex with me.' WOMAN: Is that what it means? (CHUCKLES) I think so. That's why I'm always conscious around doing it in front of guys. I'm like, 'I'm not saying I wanna have sex with you; 'I'm just trying to straighten it, cos normally, it's bouffy. (TUTS, CHUCKLES) (WOMAN CHUCKLES) Hi. Hey. Hello. I recognise you guys. (CHUCKLES) We've all, sort of, seen each other before, whether it's on Instagram or Facebook, but it's the first time that we've seen each other in person. It's intimidating. A lot of them have done this before; they're quite professional at it. I just spoke to one girl who has just done New York Fashion Week. Yeah, I was just like, 'Wow.' Um, New Zealand. OK. So, you know, I'm kind of feeling a little bit out of my depth, but... (SIGHS) just trying to fit in as best I can. Oh! Hello! Oh my gosh! Imene. How are you today? I'm good. How are you? Mwah! Mwah! Getting used to this kissing. (CHUCKLES) So European. 'Meeting people in a group is quite intimidating for me. 'I would say I'm quite an introverted person; I'm not really extroverted. 'I'm conscious of just being friendly and nice, but I'm always trying to push myself anyway, 'so I'm trying to get out of my comfort zones, even though it might be kinda scary.' Yeah. You're so beautiful, by the way. (CHUCKLES) Thank you! 'I'm definitely the highest level here. 'So far, no one's said anything. It's more about your age. I think I'm the oldest person. No. 30 years old? No. Uh, late 30s, so 38. 'That seems to be more of an issue than, I guess, your level of disability 'or what your disability is.' I mean, I'm quite inquisitive, so I'm tempted to ask people, 'Oh, so, why are you using a wheelchair?' or, 'Why do you have an amputated limb?' or something. But, yeah, I'm trying to be polite as well, so... (CHUCKLES) And I don't post that much. I'm kind of, like, surprised that people have picked up on it, but I don't know... 15.9. That's` Yeah, that's good. It's kind of crazy. Way better than mine. (CHUCKLES) And you're not a model? Look at all your modelling pictures. I take half of them myself, to be honest. Like, I'm trained as a graphic designer, so I'm kind of... I've got, like, a background in design. So you edit them? She's super happy. Giulia Bartoccioni is the CEO of the Iulia Barton Inclusive Fashion Industry, a branch of her modelling agency which she set up in 2016, based in Rome. The inspiration to have a modelling agency that is inclusive was due to Giulia's brother, Fabrizio, who became tetraplegic in a diving accident. The mission for Iulia Barton is to select women and men with disabilities or trauma ` they can be walking or using a wheelchair, from all around the world ` and transform them into top models. It's just so awesome to see all these amazing people together in the same place, and, yeah, it's really, kind of, breaking barriers. I think that's good. It's really cool to be included in something like this. You know, you think fashion, you think perfection, and, obviously, we're not perfect, but it's OK not to be perfect, and maybe there's a sense of perfection in imperfection. So, you know, it's cool. I really like it. (LAID-BACK MUSIC) (HANGERS CLATTER) Now it's time to get on with wardrobe fittings and rehearsals. WOMAN: I'm so excited, and we are working today for fitting, so we have to try all the outfit. We have, like, uh,... 18 outfit, because all the models` every model has two outfit on the catwalk. So I think that we work all day, full day. Yeah, it's great. Claire, I love her. We usually choose our model by casting. But with Claire, we don't follow this way, because when I see her on Instagram, I immediately impressed by her, and I contact her. Uh,... and I ask her if you want be part of our stuff. And she immediately reply me. So now she's here. (CHUCKLES) She's beautiful. She will be perfect in catwalk. She's very elegant. Also her body is perfect for catwalk, yes. It's important also a strong character on the catwalk; um,... personality, um,... and the beauty. Yeah. Today we're going to be finding out what we're wearing, and some of the designers are hopefully gonna come in and show us their stuff. Later on, we're gonna learn how to, I guess, walk on the catwalk and just, sort of, run through the show and stuff. I've never really considered myself to be a particularly beautiful person. Certainly, just after the accident, when I was 17, because of the ideas and misconceptions I had about somebody with a, sort of, injury, a huge sense of humiliation, embarrassment. I just thought, 'Well, there's just no way that I fit into the 'beautiful person' category. I struggled especially with being seen in my wheelchair. I would never have photos taken or anything. And if I did have a photo taken, I'd always have to sit in a normal chair. And even on dating websites, I would never mention the fact I had a spinal injury. And going to design school didn't help that, because I was so image-orientated, so it kind of pushed the idea even more about what is aesthetically beautiful, and I certainly didn't see myself in that role. But, I guess, through social media and stuff, I can see that beauty is such a diverse thing for me. That's the cool thing about this is that a lot of the girls and guys have been through so much trauma that there is a real connection there. There doesn't seem to be any egos that have surfaced yet. I've been, sort of, reconceptualising myself and working on my self esteem. I think age definitely helps. As you get a little bit older, you kind of... you become a little bit less self-conscious and you just realise that there's a bit more to life than appearance. I think that Claire... can wear Angelo Cruciani, because she has red hair, and... he has a very colourful collection. Like this one. It's perfect for her. So Claire... with Cruciani. Hello. I'm Angelo Cruciani. I'm Italian. I am a fashion designer, and it's around 25 years I work in fashion. I start since when I was 16. I was a model, and later, after two or three years, I started for become a fashion designer. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (CHUCKLING) Giulia has invited six different fashion labels to her show at Milan Fashion Week. Claire is assigned to model two outfits ` one for Angelo Cruciani, and the other's for Giuseppe Fata, who is doing Christian Dior headdresses. I take part of fashion show as testimonial many times because I have a lot of friends with some different condition of lifestyle. And I'm very honoured to be part of this fashion show. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Tomorrow, it's my first inclusive fashion show. This fashion show, the theme of my fashion show is the perfection, because I detest the word 'normal'. All the time, people say to me, 'This is normal. This is not normal.' I became a monster. I became not normal. I became a real monster, because I detest how the people use this kind of word. This is why I call the fashion show Perfectly Perfect. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Because I think nature create everything in the perfect way and everything became perfect. Everything is perfect; everybody's perfect. Today we're going to be finding out what we're wearing. Hopefully I won't be a diva. The only diva thing that I can think of is if they want me to wear something see-through, I'm a little bit worried about, but I can't see that happening, and hopefully it doesn't. Here's something else Claire hasn't considered. Stripping down to her smalls is all part of the modelling life. No room for shyness here. Cos, like, you just took your (BLEEP)ing clothes off in front of people. (CHUCKLES) You know? It was like, 'It's OK, everybody. I'm naked.' (CHUCKLES) Kind of. And I bought this bra that totally doesn't fit me, like, a day before I came, so I'm like, 'Well, this is embarrassing,' because, like, you know, here I am in my undies, and I'm just kind of like... Yeah, I mean, it was like... I went to a German spa once, where everyone was naked and I was in my togs. And I'm kind of like, 'I'm not getting naked.' But they're all, like, looking at you like, 'You gotta get naked.' And, you know, you're just kind of like, 'Well, I guess, when in Rome, right? Join the crew.' So you just did it. (INDISTINCT CHATTER, UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS SOFTLY) Now it's time to hit our marks and strike a pose. It was all in Italian, so you didn't really know what was going on. And it was fine. They were lovely. They were helpful. (CHUCKLES) I understand that, as a model, it's about your body; you're a kind of product, in a way, so I'm just trying to sort of reframe myself to think this is kind of like a` I guess it's a job. You wanna try it this time? (BRIGHT MUSIC) Being a Perfectly Perfect model is trickier than it looks. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Initially, I went down and I smiled, and they were like, 'Uh, no, don't smile.' They were like, 'Look fierce.' I kept thinking of that movie Zoolander ` Blue Steel or something like that. (LAID-BACK MUSIC) I believe this is a good opportunity for Milan Fashion Week to understand fashion can be part of society ` not only for economy, but also promote a different kind of way to see the life. I believe this is the new fashion. Fashion is not only garments. I definitely feel this is empowering people, empowering women and empowering people with spinal cord injuries, which` I certainly don't see anything wrong with that. I think it's great. It's been a long day, but Claire is energised by the arrival of Elena, a model she met from her Instagram page, who she introduced to Giulia for the show. Hi! Oh, good to see you, dear! Oh! So good to see you. Finally! I know, right? Like, over a year. How are you? I'm so happy to see you. Elena had dreamed of modelling, but two years ago, she broke her spine. Always. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. Oh, so how was...? Claire, actually, is a big part of my life and very inspiring. She was the first person ` girl ` in a wheelchair that I met, and when she told me that she built that house and she's pursuing this degree, and I was like, 'Wow. All those thing are still possible.' I'm like, 'Look at this girl.' And she has a higher injury than me. If she can, why I can't? Before injury, I was just dreaming about Milan and going abroad, and here I am. I have injury, but I am in Milan in a fashion show. Like, who c`? It's amazing. Yeah. (UPBEAT ITALIAN-STYLE MUSIC) The big day has arrived, and the tension is ramping up. Giulia has made sure all can get into Teatro Versace, the venue for the show in central Milan. (MUSIC CONTINUES) So, today's like D-Day. Tonight we've got the show. I did not sleep. I've just been a bunch of nerves, really. It's just` I'm so out of my comfort zone, (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) so, yeah, I'm just sort of feeling kind of... I'm running on adrenaline. It's something that you get` It's a similar feeling to when the earthquakes were happening. (CHUCKLES) The proceeds of the fashion show will be donated to the Vertical Foundation, a non-profit organisation that carries out research on spinal injuries. The CEO of the Vertical Foundation is Fabrizio. (SOFT, BRIGHT MUSIC) (MUSIC CONTINUES) I think the most anxious part for me would be the actual show. Like, I'm really nervous about getting quickly changed and the pace of everything. You know, we've got a few different outfits to wear. I guess modesty's gonna have to go out the window. And being on the catwalk is gonna be quite scary. It's very avant-garde. It's very haute couture, kind of arty, which is really cool, and I like that aspect. So I sort of fell, 'Well, it's not a beauty pageant.' Not that I have anything against beauty pageants, but I'm a very artistic person, so in that sense, yeah, it's cool. We've got these amazing Christian Dior headpieces that we'll be wearing, so it'll be a very artistic, very creative show. That's OK. I sort of feel like I'm the odd one out ` just because I'm usually the odd one out. So I assume everyone's, kind of, done this before, and when I say, 'Are you guys nervous?' they all look at me, going, 'Hmm. No.' (LAUGHS) And I'm like, 'What?! It's, like, crazy. It's gonna be insane.' So, yeah, that's interesting to know that this is a first for a few of them, cos they all seem so professional. I think it's really important for people to see that it's not all picture-perfect and that we see more of what we see in the streets, and that's not only models with disabilities, but plus-size models, models with another skin tone ` everything that's still, like, not the majority of fashion. The message that we want to share is a message of equality, and, I mean, we are really like the other models; we are really like the other people. I'm nervous because I'm pregnant, so I don't know how people are going to react to that. So I have a disability and a pregnant belly. You don't see that on a catwalk every day. Beauty is not just one type of thing, but there are lots of kind of beauties. Hi. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Sorry. Thank you. Grazie. OK. Try this shirt... OK. ...to create a better thing for your neck, because that's what they are wanting of the result. OK. I think they're doing another fitting. Yeah, so we're gonna look at some more... just a little few alterations or something to one of the outfits. (SIGHS) She's amazing. She looks like a Hollywood actress. All my assistants say, 'She looks like Katherine.' I don't remember exactly the name; I'm no Hollywood diva. But... I saw more inside. I have so deep in her eyes, because she's beautiful, but I believe that she's more sweet. And also there is a very fragile person inside ` but not fragile because she's not strong; fragile because she's sensitive, she's sweet. She's like... She's like a dream. You cannot touch a dream. Can you do upper? Uh, upper? Yeah. Up high? Um, can someone el...? Can you do it? (CHUCKLES) She has the attitude of a diva. This is natural; this you cannot learn in the school. You cannot study for have this. You can only born with this kind of thing. So she don't do nothing, and this is special. No need to do something; she need only to stay and say OK. This is perfect. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) OK. Yeah. Cool. I like it. (STRAINS) No, I can't. (CHUCKLES) Grazie. It's the last rehearsal, and Claire is determined to show Giulia and Angelo that a little Instagrammer from New Zealand can sashay with the best of them. (MOODY ELECTRONIC MUSIC) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) I am extremely nervous, and I'm (BLEEP)ing myself. Luckily, it's not... literal, but... Yeah, it's just crazy. I can't believe I'm here. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (SOFT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) ANGELO: I believe in the future, our work ` the work of a fashion designer ` will be to learn to the people ` accept yourself and you can become beautiful. Nothing will be perfect, because this is life. No? You need to accept what sky wanna give you. And there is a destiny for everybody. We can create one part ` 50%. The other 50%, we need to accept the energy of the world. (UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) # Let's bring the house down. (MUSIC CONTINUES) # Let's bring the house down. # Life isn't easy. It's the hardest thing any of us will do. But as well as the crap that we're given, sometimes we get given a break ` a good break. (MUSIC CONTINUES) Milan may not have been something that I ever thought was possible, but neither was having a spinal injury. So I'm taking the good with the bad, mixing them together and creating something crazy exciting. (MUSIC ENDS) (COMPELLING ELECTRONIC MUSIC) Captions by Imogen Staines. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018