On 27th September 2019 I launched my very own business/brand; DEAF IDENTITY to the world and as we approach the 1 year anniversary and birthday of my brand, I wanted to create something special.

One of the main questions I got asked over the past year was; ‘Why haven’t you modelled for your brand yet?’ and the reason for that is simple. I never wanted it to be about ‘me’. Yes, it’s my brand, yes it’s my message behind everything and yes I am the one in control however, I just didn’t want people to feel as though they were buying into one person. DEAF IDENTITY is a brand, it’s much bigger than just any one person and ultimately, it’s about putting deaf people into the limelight and raising deaf awareness through fashion in a fun, modern and relevant way!

With that being said, I thought now would be a good time to step in front of the camera wearing my own designs and who better to shoot me wearing DEAF IDENTITY than the amazing Sophia Carey! Within this lookbook I have worn every design and colour that I’ve released over the past first year since launching and I’m rather pleased with the results!

I hope you like this lookbook and I want to personally thank everybody for their love and support shown over this past year. I can’t begin to sum it up in words and I wouldn’t want to bore you but genuinely, thank you x

ALPHABET SIGN LANGUAGE

NAVY SWEATER

SIZE ‘L’

WHITE INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

CUSTOM SIGN LANGUAGE

WHITE T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘S’

WITH BLACK INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

DEAF IDENTITY LOGO

SAND SWEATER

SIZE ‘S’

WITH WHITE DEAF IDENTITY TEXT EMBROIDERY THREAD COLOUR

‘WHY DOES AUTOCORRECT ALWAYS CHANGE DEAF TO DEAD? BEHAVE’ DEAF IDENTITY PHRASE

BLACK T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘M’

WITH ORANGE EMBROIDERY THREAD

DEAF IDENTITY HEART LOGO

SKY BLUE SWEATER

SIZE ‘M’

WITH DEAF IDENTITY TEXT IN WHITE EMBROIDERY THREAD AND THE HEART IN BLUE EMBROIDERY THREAD

DEAF IDENTITY PALM TREE LOGO (SUMMER 2020 EXCLUSIVE)

GREY T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘S’

WITH PALM TREE LOGO IN MAGENTA EMBROIDERY THREAD AND DEAF IDENTITY TEXT IN WHITE

CUSTOM SIGN LANGUAGE

RED HOODIE (CHRISTMAS 2019 EXCLUSIVE)

SIZE ‘S’

WITH WHITE INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

I LOVE YOU HAND SIGN

YELLOW SWEATER (SUMMER 2020 EXCLUSIVE)

SIZE ‘L’

WITH BLACK EMBROIDERY THREAD COLOUR

DEAF IDENTITY PRINTED LOGO

BOTTLE GREEN SWEATER

SIZE ‘M’

WITH WHITE DEAF IDENTITY TEXT

ALPHABET SIGN LANGUAGE

BABY PINK SWEATER

SIZE ‘XXXL’

WITH BLACK INK AND WITH NO TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

I LOVE YOU SKETCH

WHITE SWEATER

SIZE ‘S’

BLOSSOM INK WITH NO TEXT SHOWING UNDERNEATH

For the past 5 months I have been working silently on creating a new brand/business; DEAF IDENTITY.

Growing up as a deaf person, I was always told how to be, how to behave, how deaf I actually am, I never knew where I belonged or how to fit in, and I always felt that my deafness was up for debate.

/ ‘Well you wear hearing aids so you’re deaf’. / ‘Well you don’t look deaf’. / ‘If you can’t sign then you’re not really deaf’. / ‘Turn your hearing aids up, I’m not repeating myself again’. / ‘You’re not that deaf because you can speak to me and have good speech’. / ‘Ugh, never mind it doesn’t matter’. ///

Since becoming more secure of my #DEAFIDENTITY and how strongly I feel in terms of identifying as a deaf person, I feel incredibly passionate about showing to the world that actually, there is no right or wrong way to be deaf, and that no matter how people might judge or speak to you, they can never take away how you identify as a deaf person.

Growing up, I never had a deaf role model, or a deaf group to identify with, and in today’s society and media where diversity is being spoken about strongly, I’m still yet to see any diversity when it comes to deaf issues and deaf awareness? I love fashion and mixing it whilst raising deaf awareness, is something I feel incredibly strong and passionate about!

Over the next week I will be releasing content over on @deafidentity ahead of its official release this upcoming Friday 27th September at 6pm, and I do hope that you will join me on my new journey, and to realise that it’s time that deafness got recognised, spoken about and more importantly - heard.