A fashionable way to raise awareness

Nadia’s story:

When I designed a clothing collection in the final year of my fashion degree, I took inspiration from my family’s history of Alzheimer’s disease. I never imagined that 10 years later my pieces would be displayed in one of the world’s most high-profile fashion exhibitions – at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art – and that it would gain international media attention.

I designed the collection in 2016 and called it Remember Me Knot. It was an unusual choice, but I wanted to learn more about dementia, to raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland and to raise awareness of the condition more generally.

It was a theme that meant a lot to me as both my Granny Dinah and my Great Granny Bridget had Alzheimer’s disease.

I have very clear memories from when I was young of spending time with Dinah and Bridget, before and after they moved into care homes. They were both an important part of our family’s lives.

I remember thinking it felt like many people with dementia were disregarded when they were diagnosed with the disease and this was further heightened when a person had to go into the care system. As a young girl, witnessing this happen to two of my grandmothers, I felt the attitudes of many were that it was a disease that only impacted old people and as such these people were often neglected by society as old and forgetful. And that’s just not good enough.

My Granny Dinah was diagnosed in her 60s and I know there’s people diagnosed even younger. It was that lack of understanding that ultimately fuelled my fashion project.

I worked with researchers and doctors, who gave me brain scans that I used to create the print. When Alzheimer’s enters the brain, it tangles the neurons so I incorporated a lot of knots and tangled materials. The only colour I used is red which was my Great Granny’s favourite colour, but also has a scientific significance in that it represents the areas of the brain that are still active in PET scans.

I’ve worked as an art and fashion teacher at a high school in Midlothian for four years, and hadn’t thought about my designs for a long time.

But then I was contacted out of the blue by the curators of the Met Gala saying they wanted some of my pieces for their new exhibition – Costume Art. They’d searched for fashion about the ageing body and cognitive disorders, and found my work.

I had to go back through my storage boxes and also remade one item for them. Next thing I knew, I was invited to the grand opening of the Met Gala Exhibition in May.

I took my mum and it was an amazing, surreal and emotional experience. People viewing the clothes and realising the meaning behind them would share their personal stories with us about dementia.

The media interest was also a bit crazy and unexpected. The BBC had tried to interview us at Edinburgh Airport as we were heading to New York.

I couldn’t have asked for a better response because this has always been about raising awareness of dementia, getting people talking about it, and that is exactly what this project has achieved.