Beyoncé just dropped the campaign for her new Formation World Tour merchandise, and she made a major statement by having Jillian Mercado model the line.
Mercado is a wheelchair-bound blogger-turned-model with muscular dystrophy who has been making a name for herself in the fashion industry for a few years now. The 28-year-old model has been in a wheelchair since she was 12, but that hasn't stopped her from following her dream of becoming a model, and now she's had the honor to model for Queen Bey.
"OK LADIES now let's get in FORMATION!" she captioned one of the campaign's photos. "So BEYond excited to finally announce that I'm on the official @beyonce website!!! A special shoutout to the Queen Bee herself and the amazing team behind it."
She then posted another photo of herself in a sweatshirt from the new collection with lyrics from the singer's hit song "7/11," writing, "SMACK IT, SMACK IT IN THE AIR. Check me out on @beyonce's shop."
Mercado has been featured in several ads, including Diesel and Nordstrom, and she officially signed with IMG Models in August 2015. When she first signed with the popular agency, she revealed how she hopes individuals with disabilities can become more present in the industry.
"At first I was very hesitant," she said of starting her fashion blog Manufactured 1987. "I wasn't sure about showing everyone my world because I didn't know if there would be an audience. We've been brainwashed [as a society] not to care about someone who has a disability, or their world...A friend told me, 'Jilly, if anyone needs to write about their experiences, it is you, because I have never seen anyone who pushed the stereotypes in a positive way more than you have.' Her words pushed me to put myself out there."
"Working with IMG, my goal is to make it so that I am not the model in the wheelchair and I'm just the model," she continued. "If I can do big shows like Alexander Wang or Chanel and not be seen as the token girl, that goes a long way toward challenging perceptions. There is still so much change that needs to happen, but I want to make way for whoever has that mind-set that I had when I was younger. I want the people who were hesitant in pursuing fashion because of the way that people might perceive them to know there is a place for them."
