People Are Stoked Rihanna Included Models With Limb Differences In New Savage X Fenty Range

savage x fenty disability representation lyric mariah heard

The latest drop from Rihanna‘s lingerie label Savage X Fenty is being shouted out online for its ongoing support of people from underrepresented communities, this time for featuring a model with a physical disability.

Writer Kim Kelly posted on Twitter on Wednesday, thanking Rihanna for “hiring models with limb differences”, after photos from the latest collection landed on the Savage X Fenty website.

savage x fenty disability representation

The featured model is Lyric Mariah Heard, who developed amniotic band syndrome while she was still in utero. The syndrome causes the bands that protect foetuses to wrap around limbs and organs, affecting blood flow and growth development.

savage x fenty disability representation
[Image: Twitter / @GrimKim]
savage x fenty disability representation
[Image: Twitter / @GrimKim]
In an interview with Health, Lyric said her amniotic band syndrome affected her hand and her leg, resulting in only three fully developed fingers on her left hand. Lyric’s physical disability looks similar to ectrodactyly, the limb difference that Kim Kelly has.

“I was researching it, and I don’t think I realised how blessed I was because these bands can wrap around your heart, neck, or eyes,” she said to Health.

“I’m missing a foot and some fingers, but there are so many babies that missed out on life because of it.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQqpATmLxEr/

Savage X Fenty isn’t the first major brand that Lyric has modelled for. Dolls Kill was the first fashion brand to book her, and since then she’s modelled for Tommy Hilfiger, PrettyLittleThing, and Skims.

Lyric isn’t the only model in the Savage X Fenty lineup with a physical disability, either. In the past, Rihanna has included Kiara Marshall in her shoots, who lost her leg as a child after she was hit by a drunk driver.

Talking to Metro, Kiara said she had never seen another person with a prosthetic leg before she got her own, but now she wants to be that representation for other young people with limb differences.

“If there are other little girls out there with limb differences then I want to be their representation,” she said.

“To be doing what I am now feels incredible and like I am living beyond my wildest dreams.”

She’s since modelled for Gucci, US Target, Vogue Italia, as well as Savage X Fenty.

More of this representation forever, please. Everyone else: take notes from Queen RiRi.

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