Clothing chronic conditions

Emilie Delaye, a University of Delaware master's student in fashion and apparel studies, has dedicated years to supporting women like herself who struggle with chronic illness and recently focused her research on helping them manage their unique clothing challenges.

Funded as a Graduate Community Engagement Summer Scholar, Delaye spent this summer interviewing women with chronic conditions - such as dysautonomia, endometriosis and infectious diseases - to understand how off-the-rack fashion fails to meet their basic needs. For some, their clothing must fit around medical equipment attached to their bodies; for others, their constellation of symptoms is always evolving and requiring new accommodations.

Delaye lived for the past year with first a port and then a peripherally inserted central catheter in her chest, which were used to treat her neurologic Lyme disease and limited her clothing choices.

"I love to express myself through clothing, [but] I started having to wear plain t-shirts," she said. "I had to cut holes in my shirt in order to make it work for me. I can't be the only one struggling with this problem."