Inside Fashion Institute of Technology’s ‘Adapt/Evolve’ Exhibition

The New York City-based Fashion Institute of Technology earlier this month ran an exhibit, called Adapt/Evolve, which the school describes as a “multidisciplinary exhibition that considers various approaches to designing for accessibility as well as adaptive design’s relationship to culture and society.” The projects on display, ranging from “stylish mobility aids” to other things which “prioritize both function and human dignity,” were meant to “bring to light a network of care, interdependence, and access to good design for all, paving the way to a built world that supports everyone,” per FIT.

Adapt/Evolve was announced in August and ran September 18 through October 26.

I recently sat down with Troy Richards and Fawz Kabra via videoconference to discuss Adapt/Evolve; Richards serves as FIT’s dean of the art and design school, whilst Kabra works as curator of the art and design gallery. At a high level, Kabra explained the overarching goal of the gallery was to “show what we are doing at FIT in terms of adaptive and inclusive design, and also see how it is also in conversation with people around us [in NYC].” Designing for disability, she added, has relevance to a vast cross-section of real-world products from children’s toys to furniture to jewelry to fashion and more. The intent with Adapt/Evolve was to showcase as much of possible “the array of imagination and creative solutions these artists and designers have come up with.”

“We’re so excited about this exhibition,” Richards said.

My conversation with Richards and Kabra rekindled my relationship with FIT. One of my bigger stories of 2024 was my interview with now-retired president, Dr. Joyce Brown.

Richards went on to tell me accessibility conceptually is “really important” to everyone at FIT, as the school strives to foster a diverse and inclusive learning environment. He noted that when leaders first bandied about ideas for what would eventually become Adapt/Evolve, something that proved especially exciting on campus was the work already being done through an inclusivity-tinted lens—to wit, Richards shared an anecdote about one such project being worked on for autism research in collaboration with a school for autistic children in New York City. A focal point, he added, is universal design, and the project involved toys that had what he called “universal appeal.”

“These are [product] designs that allow for greater accessibility for groups of people who have different disabilities,” Richards said. “But also they become just [examples of] good design, and we see that by thinking of these people with these with specific needs… we can actually make life better for everybody. It actually makes things easier for all of us, and makes a more comfortable and a better designed world.”

That Richards emphasized FIT’s commitment to diversity and inclusion vis-a-vis accessibility speaks to the school’s ethos on greater inclusion generally. FIT, part of New York State’s SUNY system, exists to “introduce students to the different careers available to them in art and design,” Richards told me, and its mission is to “encourage as many people from different backgrounds to think of the opportunities to consider these opportunities In art design because we value their voices [and] their vision.”

He continued: “It’s really those diverse visions that will help us solve some of the more challenging problems that we face in our world and in our country. We need as many people engaged in this creative work as possible. This is something that all of our faculty take very seriously that [attending FIT] is a transformational education.”

For her part, Kabra echoed Richards’ sentiments by sharing the story of one of the exhibition’s stars in Haley Schwartz, a FIT alum and who copes with chronic illness. Schwartz is behind adaptive apparel company Vetige Adaptive, with Kabra saying Schwartz is devoted to designing clothing which are “beautiful and stylish and fun and joyful, but also accessible” to people who, for instance, must deal with a colostomy bag or oxygen bag. Vertige’s designs have been thoughtfully created to accommodate such medical devices by way of pouches, enabling wearers to maintain their stylistic sensibilities (not to mention their dignity) while lugging around decidedly unstylish kit.

There are countless other examples of the concept, but Kabra’s larger point was simply that accessibility and design can, in fact, go hand-in-hand if they’re blended with intentionality. Former students such as Schwartz, Kabra added, have left FIT and gone onto their professional lives, thriving “working within the field of adaptive design.”

“I’m so happy we have these alums participating in the exhibition,” Richards said.

When asked how Adapt/Evolve journeyed from conception to fruition, Richards said the impetus is pretty personal on his end. His mother was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, around the time he assumed his perch at FIT, and passed away a year later after what he called an “aggressive” form of the disease. The heartbreaking part was not merely that Richards’ mom succumbed, but it was how she rapidly lost things like her mobility and overall independence. The job with FIT, Richards told me, was a prime opportunity to “encourage our departments to explore accessible [and] adaptive design so that people who who struggle with these types of conditions or have different disabilities.”

Thus, Adapt/Evolve was a literal manifestation of those ideals.

“[Creating the exhibition] was definitely an exciting process,” Kabra added.

“What we saw and wanted to bring to light is this network of care and kind of interdependence… people taking it upon themselves to do things for their community: for their friends, their neighbors,” she said of the raison d'être for FIT’s Adapt/Evolve exhibition. “[There’s] also a desire for art be to accessible and show good design for everybody so that we visualize like this ‘built world’ that is supportive of everybody. As we were putting together a checklist, we could see the artists and the designers are redefining accessible design… they’re creating these stylish garments, stylish mobility aids, and these community-focused solutions that prioritize both the function and the human, as well as human dignity. That [notion] really came to view for us.”

Both Richards and Kabra reiterated the belief that FIT and accessibility are inextricably tied. Richards said Adapt/Evolve is “a great start” to instilling the idea to students, as he noted many students graduate and go onto careers in fashion and/or design. More pointedly, he said the exhibition is a great forum from which to extol the virtues that accessibility is “vital” to design—in other words, accessibility isn’t something that can, or should, be an afterthought or bolted on at the end. The exhibition raises more awareness of that sentiment to students. "I keep thinking about how so many of the works demonstrate that accessible design is good design, and these are things that people will want in their own lives. “It makes [products] that much more inclusive… it makes the world that much easier for everyone to engage in,” Richards said.

Kabra concurred, telling me Adapt/Evolve is “definitely creating more visibility and shining a light on everyone has been very kind of important for this project.” She went on to say the exhibition is more or less a proof of concept of sorts, insofar as this year’s event gives her “bits” that she can “follow through other exhibitions” with accessibility top of mind from the outset. To prioritize accessibility is to prioritize empathy for all.

Feedback-wise, Richards said the reception to Adapt/Evolve has been “wonderful.” He shared an anecdote about an attendee who lives in Queens and doesn’t venture into Manhattan very often. The person, Richards said, made the sojourn to the exhibition primarily because most things of FIT’s kind don’t emphasize accessibility and inclusive design. The novelty of which “really excited him.” Moreover, Richards mentioned he’s heard similar effusive sentiments from both fellow faculty members and students alike.

“They find [the event] to be an important topic to be to be explored,” Richards said.

For her part, Kabra told me a group of alumni students built a fully accessible website for Adapt/Evolve and noted the site’s design “considers people with disability and and presents beautiful, contemporary and fresh work.” Overall, Kabra said there was “lots of excitement” over the event, and has proven itself “a pleasant surprise” for FIT staffers.

Looking towards the future, both Richards and Kabra reaffirmed their commitment to continuing the work in amplifying accessibility and, by extension, the disability community. Notably, Richards said FIT is in the process of developing a minor in Adaptive Design that’s interdisciplinary such that students get the chance to “get more focus” on the topic. Adapt/Evolve, he went on, isn’t a one-off token gesture; on the contrary, FIT assuredly will "address the sort of explore the topic again in future symposia.” At 30,000 feet, FIT wants to use these machinations to not only flex their institutional muscle, but to “change the fashion industry,” Richards said. Furthermore, he said he wants his students to learn to “design with empathy and forethought” as they work their way towards contributing towards the betterment of the wider world.

Kabra agreed yet again with her colleague.

“I hope to continue such exhibitions with important themes, but also for myself as an exhibition maker, to broaden the way I think about inclusivity personally,” she said. “[I want to] push myself to hopefully have more accessibility even within our shows.”

Accessibility at FIT, Kabra added, “should become second nature.”