When Stephanie Thomas first started Cur8able in 2015 (the concept began in 2010) her goal was to become superfluous, for her job to be obsolete. In an interview with Paper at the time she said; "I'm going to create a business that will put myself out of business, meaning that I will do this work so well, that people will no longer need a disability fashion stylist. They will be so inclusive that there will be no need for what I do.” To clarify, Thomas would “absolutely love to continue to do this work” but in a different form. She explains: “In a form where there’s less advocacy and more focus on human-centered design and universal design without having to do so much of the education piece because it is now common knowledge and fully integrated within the zeitgeist.”
Her hope? To create an environment where there’s no longer a need for Cur8able. Unfortunately, Thomas says we’re still “nowhere near” her goal of ending ableism in the fashion industry. “We are still early to market,” she continues. “Even though there have been iterations of fashion markets for people with disabilities here, notably the functional fashion movement, for a long time.”
Thomas goes on to reference advocates like Natalie Wright, the Charles Hummel Curatorial Fellow at The Chipstone Foundation who studies disability and design throughout history; Adeline Hoffman, Ph.D who wrote about this market in 1979; and The New York Times former fashion editor, Virginia Pope who co-created the Clothing Research and Development Foundation to run Functional Fashionswith designer Helen Cookman in the 70s, who have all been essential resources for her work and the mission.
But she’s not discouraged. “I think we are right where we need to be,” she adds. “I think the word is starting to spread and we just have to run the race like the people that came before us.” But for people who are interested in helping to solve these problems with human-centered design, universal design, and adaptive principles, Thomas urges you “to jump on in.”
Read on to learn more about Thomas’ incredible work, how she’s continuing to push the industry forward, and how you can too.
How has Cur8able already made a difference and pushed the industry forward to shape new industry norms?
Just reaching out to the community, being a person with a disability, missing digits on my right hand and feet, understanding what my clients are going through, really just connecting to real people and focusing on the end user has made a difference. I can say that because even when I didn't know what I was doing, I always knew why I was doing it. And just being a naturally curious person, I started with questions. So, after the pageant system participation in 1993—I did 1992 and 1993—and one of the things that I took away from that was to ask questions. It's not about what you know, it's about knowing the right questions to ask.
Even as a hobby, I was asking people so many questions and I was laser focused on the end user, which nowadays, especially with the distractions of social media, the blessing and the curse, the distractions keep us away from focusing on the end users. So, I'm so grateful for two decades of really being able to hone in, focus on the end user and figure out their needs.
So, yes, Cur8able has made a difference—even the way that I talk about dressing with disabilities. I hear my quotes about clothing, “there more clothing for pets than there are for people with disabilities in the zeitgeist” and I hear people now referring to clothing for wheelchair users as “clothing for people with seated body types,” which blows my mind and makes me super happy. I'm starting to hear people talk about the actual industry and dressing with disabilities in ways that I've outlined in my lexicon years ago and I have been using for years. I love when PR firms bring me in to work with their clients. A lot of the images that they're sending them are my images or images of people that I work with. So Cur8able is absolutely, without question, making a difference in our own little way. We're the little company that could.
Going after what you deserve in life takes confidence and guts. Does confidence come naturally to you or did you have to learn it? What advice can you share for women on cultivating confidence and going after their dreams?
I would say both. Confidence came naturally to me because I'm pretty tenacious and I like to take some risks but there was definitely a period of time where I had to learn that I'm not an overcomer.
I had to unlearn. My friend Sissi Johnson talks about this idea of unlearning and I had to unlearn a lot of things. I had to unlearn things culturally, not looking at my beauty through the lens of white supremacy.
I had to unlearn things with regards to ableism and disability. I'm not an overcomer. I am who I am. This is how I was born. This is how I came out of the womb. I think it's both learned, and I think it's natural, and I think if we're all honest with each other, I think you stop living—I think you become a fossil when you stop learning. So, even if I naturally migrated towards confidence, I would want to continue to learn things. It's actually my love of learning that really makes me more confident. And helps me in my work.
What has been the biggest learning curve throughout your career?
My biggest learning curve was simply figuring out how to be a part of solving the problem. I started the disability fashion styling system, Aposh, the A was for accessible.( I looked in the dictionary and somewhere in the dictionary there was a definition of the word Poche, meaning smart and fashionable so I smushed them together.)
Aposh was the first iteration of my now proprietary disability fashion styling system—accessible, smart, fashionable.But it took me from 1993 to 2003—talking to designers, having people fly me to L.A. to talk to brands, end users, and different people (then having them never take my calls again)—to realize that I wanted to create something that could help me empower people. I created my styling system but I didn't know that I was a stylist. I didn't have that language. I didn't know.
So, it wasn't until 2009 that it really dawned on me that what I was doing was styling. I know it doesn't make sense when I say it, but I was actually doing the action before I knew what it was. There was so much freedom when I discovered that the work that I was doing is a work of a stylist, because that is the place between the designer, between the merchandising, the market, and all of that stuff. So ,it has really worked out to be great now that I know exactly how to solve the problem.
The biggest learning curve was figuring out what my skill set was in order to help me use that skill set to be the most effective. That's what this is all about. Focus on your skill set. Don't try to be who they are.
2020 presented everybody around the globe with new, unprecedented challenges. How did you #FindNewRoads + switch gears towards your new version of success?
I stopped being so hard on myself, trying to figure out how to be everything. To be honest with you, there are so many problems to solve that sometimes it feels overwhelming. That's when I have to just pause and step back and say, look, Stephanie, focus, focus on styling, focus on educating people. There are advocates and people coming up all around me that are also doing this work, and they will pick up the stuff that I'm not able to do.
So, 2020 has really been a gift and a curse. A curse in that I hate all of the death. I hate all of the chaos. And I hate the fact that we're flunking a freaking group project in America. However, it has really allowed me to slow down and to really focus and really go back through all of the notes that I've taken, study, read, and fall in love with my work again. Once you are there, you're unstoppable.
I have to say, it's given me balance. I made a decision in August to switch my life. I hired a life coach, and I said “help me switch my life from live to work to work to live.” I'm learning it and I'm finding balance. What I'm finding is that with that balance is more creativity, more enjoyment of the time that I do spend working, and as every entrepreneur knows, there's always something to do.
As part of my work to live, I will be moving out of my work/live space because everything is in one space right now and it keeps me constantly in front of my computer, in front of work. Then I feel guilty if I'm sitting on the couch not working. So, this has been a blessing, I'm not going to lie. I'm very grateful for this year.
What is your #1 piece of advice for young people who look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps?
Make sure you “talk less and listen more”—as a Hamilton musical superfan I had to go there. Doing this will help you discover the right questions to ask when you do speak. The right questions guide you just as much (if not more) than the right answer.
What is the #1 book you always recommend and why?
I tried to answer this, to say one book, but there is no one book that I recommend because I talk to both end users, B2B, and B2C. I don't really recommend the same books among both of those groups and oftentimes I'm not recommending books as much as I am recommending dissertations or different articles. What I have been recommending for the last five years is urging people to check out social media platforms of advocates for people with disabilities. And I give them three steps of what they need to do when they do it, because you don't need to go in and just take, you need to be able to give to this community as well.
I've been telling people to get their education through interaction. Put the damn book down for now and get some education through interaction. The reason why we have all this social unrest in our country is because there's still a lot of segregation that happens. And the reason that we don't understand each other the way we should is because we don't interact enough. And I'm not talking about this fake interaction that you do at work, because what people don't know is that people code switch. So, if someone comes into work and they act one way, that doesn't mean they act that way outside of work, too. I'm not talking about the difference between being professional because you can be professional without code switching. When you are completely vulnerable and open, people can really learn.
So, I suggest that people do three things—follow, listen, engage. Follow people with disabilities that are advocates. Don't do this weird thing where you follow personal accounts and use them. Follow them, share them when you get an opportunity, share them to help build up their followers so that they can help to spread the word. And then start to listen, and I mean, really, really listen, even if it makes you uncomfortable, because that's where the education will come in and they will suggest books, they will suggest things. Then you will begin to learn through your interaction with them.
And finally engage. Say hello and start to respond to their posts. In addition to responding to their posts, let them know why you're there and start to have a conversation with them. Have a conversation about their work and what they're doing. Not through pity, not through the lens of inspiration porn, but just simply getting to know someone.
If you could go back to the beginning of your career journey—with the knowledge you have now—what advice would you give yourself?
Study everything you can about styling—garment construction, how garments fit on the body, learn everything you can about occupational therapy. I would not want my earlier self to change anything because if I went and started to only focus on styling, only focus on OCD, I would not have heard directly from consumers, and that is the gift that keeps on giving.
So many people only want to look at data. Data is good. But the data doesn't beat that end user—it never beats the end user. I know you get the data from the end user, but that personal relationship where people trust you—even when I'm talking to people on the street having authentic, real conversations. I have no skin in the game. I'm not selling anything. I'm just having real conversations—I wouldn't have had that if I had done anything different. So, although I would have given myself some hints along the way, I would not have changed anything—nothing. Even the mistakes, even the hard times.
Fill in the blanks:
When I feel fear...
I pray and face it in order to eventually overcome it. If I waited until I wasn’t afraid to do things, I wouldn’t do anything.
To be successful, you need to...
Be in the right mindset, meaning, you have to define what personal success means to you. Figure out the “why” behind what you’re doing and focus on that.
If I wasn’t in my job now, I would be...
I am a SAG AFTRA voice actor also serving on the SAG AFTRA Persons with Disabilities committee, so I would continue my work as a voice actor, and knowing me I’d find a cause to champion.
Three qualities that got me to where I am today are...
Faith, discipline, and tenacity.
If there were more hours in the day, I would...
With my new focus on work to live, I would dedicate those extra hours to enjoying my family and friends, travel, cooking light meals, gardening, and participating in performing arts hobbies.
