This is Alexandra Kutas, the world’s first professional wheelchair model. Early this February, the beautiful brunette graced the prestigious cat walk at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Days in Kyiv. She starred as the face of the show for renowned fashion designer Fedor Vozianov in Ukraine’s first runway dedicated to a model with a disability. It also premiered the world’s first fashion video featuring a model in a wheelchair.
The 23-year-old model was born paralysed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury at birth. At the age of 18 she was snapped up for her first model shoot and has been modelling professionally for the last two years.
The model met with designer Fedor Vozianov through a friend who shared her vision for diverse representation in the fashion industry. Their artistic vision for the show included a custom chair designed to highlight her strengths as a model.
Alexandra Kutas thus became the first Ukrainian model in a wheelchair and also the world's first professional model in wheelchair.
She is Ukraine's first city-level advisor with a disability, working with the mayor of her home city, Dnipro, Ukraine.
Alexandra continuously leverages the power of social media and the internet to advocate for redefining the popular conception of people with disabilities.
For the inspiring young woman, the next goal is to be on cover of Vogue.
Video Courtesy: AP/Caters News/Fedor Vozianov/Alexandra Kutas
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