Here at BBS we think that the idea glamour in a wheelchair is completely achievable. To highlight this (and just as a bit of fun on a Friday afternoon) we thought we’d make a short list of celebrities who temporarily used wheelchairs.
These stars showed that you can remain stylish even when you need to use a wheelchair. They help demonstrate the basic premise of Blue Badge Style: that style and accessibility should not need to be mutually exclusive. Take a look for yourself:
Lady GaGa
Earlier this year Lady GaGa was snapped in about three different designer wheelchairs. Below is the one which probably attracted the most attention. Her outings in her chairs provided loads of publicity.
I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing but it was interesting to see that when someone with a profile like Lady GaGa starts using a wheelchair, it seemed to raise the profile of all less abled issues. In this instance, wheelchairs became a hot topic and newspapers started talking about designer mobility aids. One such example was a Daily Mail article featuring BBS Founder Fiona.
Liz Taylor
She spent quite a long time in a wheelchair towards the end of her life, but you barely even notice the chair here with all the jewels and fur going on around it.
Jane Fonda
The workout queen and Hollywood legend looked very uninterested as she was photographed being wheeled around after minor back surgery in 2009.
Diana Ross
Spotted in a wheelchair last year. Maybe her look in the chair is less stylish than how she got there – she’s said to have broken her ankle partying too hard!
Jessie J
When she broke her leg in 2011, Jessie J proved to be adept at making mobility aids work with her lifestyle. She managed to return to performing really quickly.
After a brief period in a wheelchair she bought herself some Glamsticks and customised her cast to fit in with her onstage outfits.
Marlon Brando
In his first movie, The Men, Brando played an ex-soldier in a wheelchair. So what if he didn’t really need the wheelchair – we had to include this picture because it’s Marlon Brando! Also, he apparently spent a month in the chair in preparation for the film and stayed in the wheelchair throughout the period of the entire shoot. A longer time than many of the other celebs included.
What do you think of this list? Do any other famous people who used wheelchairs and looked good spring to mind? There must be loads more examples of glamour in a wheelchair out there!