For April Lockhart, fashion went from being about covering up to opening up.
Lockhart is a fashion content creator with more than 180,000 Instagram followers and the founder of Disabled&, a community for creatives with disabilities.
Lockhart was born with one hand, and as she explains on the latest episode of the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk", she used to hide her limb difference growing up.
"I think I used fashion many of my teen years to hide. You know, long sleeves," she tells editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike. "It's so easy to hide a disability like a limb difference, because long sleeves or a jacket, no one would know. I mean, the first night I met my husband, he had no idea until days later, he, like, grabbed my sleeve and was like, 'Whoa, where'd your arm go?' I was frozen. Just, like, anxiety."
She goes on, "I was also so insecure then. So, I think I used fashion to cover up, which is the sad part of it, but then it also became this catalyst for me really opening up."
Now, Lockhart has built a career—and a much-needed community—around that openness. Her Instagram and TikTok accounts took off when she posted a series called "Normalizing Disabled Fashion Girlies".
"It wasn't an overnight thing, which I love. It was a steady build," the influencer explains. "I had seen people doing multiple days of outfits, and I was like, 'You know, what? What if I try this, but I show all the different ways that I get dressed.' Like, zippers are difficult, buttons are difficult, tying things, just, you know, how I do things with a limb difference ... I was terrified, but I was also just like, 'If not now, when?'"
Sharing her process also helped Lockhart define her personal style.
"I always loved wearing color. Then I feel like I regressed a bit," she says. "Wore a lot more neutrals, which is interesting looking back on it how reflective it was [with] what was happening internally for me. Anybody who follows me knows I love color, so I feel like I've rediscovered that love."
Through Disabled&, Lockhart is now creating spaces for disabled creatives offline as well. The initiative hosts events ranging from networking meetups for adults to sponsored parties where young girls can have fun getting "glammed up."
"This has been just, like, a cool journey of discovering the limb difference community ... The first step was creating an online community. The next step has been the IRL part."
For more from Lockhart—including her tips for finding your personal style and her thoughts on the state of disability inclusion in fashion—check out this week’s installment of Nice Talk. The episode is available everywhere you listen to podcasts.
