Selma Blair, the actor and disability advocate, made a remarkable fashion statement at Glamour’s 2023 Daring to Disrupt Award ceremony.
As she accepted the award presented by Ally, Blair let her clothes lead the conversation on the red carpet.
Blair wore a hand-sewn Lingua Franca sweater with the names of several prominent disability activists embroidered on it.
This powerful move echoed Natalie Portman’s 2020 Oscars cape, which featured the names of snubbed female directors.
Among the names woven into Blair’s sweater were Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, Sinéad Burke, CEO of Tilting the Lens, Keely Cat-Wells, disability rights activist and CEO of Making Space, Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, Andraéa LaVant of LaVant Consulting, KR Liu, disability advocate and head of brand accessibility at Google, and the late Judy Heumann, known as the mother of the disability rights movement.
Blair, with her icy blonde bob, paired the sweater with a navy lace gown, diamond cuff earrings, and her iconic diamond-encrusted cane.
This ensemble perfectly showcased her style and empowered message.
Blair’s dedication to fashion and advocacy has only grown since publicly sharing her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in 2018.
She became the chief creative officer of Guide Beauty, a brand that creates accessible beauty tools, and collaborated with Isaac Mizrahi on an accessible fashion collection.
In an interview, Blair confessed her love for clothes and the belief that disability and activism go hand in hand.
During the award ceremony, Blair’s friend and former costar Chloë Grace Moretz introduced her as she stood before a crowd including fellow Women of the Year, such as Brooke Shields and America Ferrera.
Overwhelmed by the moment, Blair gathered herself and began her inspiring speech.
Blair expressed, “It’s been an amazing journey because now I have come to think of disability as an olive tree whose branches extend to find a light in each other, to offer peace and hope and healing.
Disability crosses all divides.
It knows no borders.
It is part of being alive, a great peace offering.
If we are blessed enough to age, we all become disabled….
It is my great honor to be part of a community of women who disrupt everyday.”.
