Disabled French designer makes fashion history

By Joelle Diderich

PARIS, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Young fashion designer Lucie Carrasco had to
overcome the usual hurdles to stage her first catwalk show in Paris --
sleepless nights sketching outfits, searching for financial backers, finding
a suitable venue.

It's a ruthless world at the best of times, but Carrasco has been forced to
deal with an extra challenge. She suffers from muscular dystrophy, a disease
that causes the muscles to wither and waste.

The 20-year-old's debut in a gilded salon at the opulent Hotel Crillon on
Wednesday featured statuesque models in slinky gowns and see-through
mini-dresses, and was met with a standing ovation.

"Sensuality is very important," the red-haired designer, who is confined to a
wheelchair, told reporters after the show. "I was confronted with the problem
of beauty at a young age, and it's true that I have always had a passion for
beauty."

Carrasco links her love of fashion to her lengthy battle against disease.

"As an adolescent, I spent a lot of time in hospital with health problems,"
she explained. "To pass the time, my escape was to draw and to dream of the
clothes I would wear in life."

Carrasco, who can move her arms but is paralysed in the neck and body, draws
sketches and makes the finished outfits with the help of a seamstress.

But she said overcoming her disability was not her principal challenge.
Carrasco has had to defy preconceptions in an industry where appearance is
everything.

When she applied to fashion schools at the age of 18, she found that none
were willing to accept a student in a wheelchair.

"The hardest thing was to be heard, in the beginning, first by schools and
then by everybody else, because it's not common, a young lady on wheels who
shows up like that," she said.

MORAL AND PRACTICAL SUPPORT

Fortunately, Carrasco found a pair of benefactors in famed embroiderer
Francois Lesage and designer Christian Lacroix, who both responded to letters
from the tenacious teenager.

Lesage embroidered four outfits for Carrasco's first foray into fashion in
Lyon last year. Lacroix gave moral support, corresponding regularly with the
fledgling designer as she lay in hospital planning her next move.

Bolstered by their encouragement, Carrasco applied for a grant from
government agency Agefiph, which helps disabled people set up their own
businesses. She is anything but complacent about the work ahead.

"I am perfectly aware that I still have a lot to learn," she said. "People
will help you once to be helpful, but by the second time there had better be
some solid work behind it."

Carrasco's parents hope her success will help people look beyond her
disability. "I hope people understand that she has made it because she is
fighting her way in a world of able-bodied people," said her mother
Christine.

Fashion success has also had unexpected health benefits for Carrasco, who
used to suffer from regular bouts of bronchitis.

"Since I started in this line of work I have hardly had any health problems,"
she said. "I started telling myself that I didn't have time to be ill while
preparing the show last year."

05:14 02-14-02

Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.