Framing A Pretty Picture
Meet Nicola Golding, a 22-year-old beauty that loves chocolate, tea, and writing. She lives in Keighley, England, graduated from university with a first-class honors degree in multimedia journalism and aspires to have a career in the media. Her blog, View from a Walking Frame, is a candid depiction of her life with Cerebral Palsy. I asked Nicola to share a little bit about her fashion sense and how her limitations affect her clothing options.
If there’s one thing I love, it’s treating myself to new clothes. Over the years I think my collection has expanded some almost two wardrobes full because I can’t bear to get rid of anything I buy. I have Cerebral Palsy which affects my legs and my left arm. Because of this I use a walking frame and sometimes a wheelchair. I find it quite hard to find things that fit me because I’m quite petite at 4' 10”, so when I find something, I hang on to it!
My latest purchase is a pair of high-waisted denim shorts. They’re quite a pale shade and also came with braces [suspenders] that I wear hanging down at my sides to free up my arms for pulling my walking frame Martha around. These are something really quite daring for me because I’m usually a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl with the occasional dress thrown in for good measure. I do love them though, even if I’m not quite brave enough to wear them without tights!
A lot of the time, you’ll probably find me wondering around the house in an over-sized hoody or jacket, and jeans, partly because these are the things that I find easiest to put on in a morning. That said though I love to wear bright and bold colours. The ones I like to put on most often are my purple pair which I usually team up with a varsity style jacket which is at least one size bigger than I need. As I’m so little all of my jeans and trousers have to come from the children’s section (usually age 11 or 12). It makes them quite hard to find any that look age appropriate and still fit, so I automatically buy any that I come across.
Just lately, I’ve been on a bit of a mission to try and expand my dress sense to wear more dresses and skirts so that I look more grown up as people often think I’m about sixteen when they meet me, but I’m actually twenty two. When I wear a dress it’s often in a dark colour (like navy or black) and they tend to be knee length so that they don’t ride up and look shorter than I’m happy with when I’m sitting in my wheelchair.
When it comes to office work, I go for black trousers and a bright blouse with a black jacket.
As you see Nicola has difficulty finding clothing in her size outside of the children's department. I suggested to her that we look into some online shopping sites that carry smaller sizes. Certainly a 0 or 00 should be a viable option. Do any of you ladies know of a good internet resource for Nicola that carries clothing this small?