Maddy The Model

New York Fashion Week, September 2015. Something amazing and unheard of happened. A young woman called Madeline Stuart took to the cat-walk and brought down the house. Not because she was thinner, taller, had higher heels and looked more depressed than all the other models. No, Maddy made a splash because she was anything but these things. Maddy, the model, was shorter, and happier than everyone else. She strutted down the cat-walk, did her pivot, and high-fived the front row celebrities on her way back. Why? Because this is how Maddy greets life. This is how she works, and lives, and makes friends where ever she goes.

Madeline Stuart has Down syndrome and “Maddy the Model” is the film about her and her mother Rosanne’s campaign for inclusion. A team followed this amazing woman for 4 years. From Brisbane to China, to Uganda and New York and back again. It is tough at times, not everyone is as pro-change as Maddy and her mother is, not everyone wants to tear down the walls of restriction and conformity. But, if anyone can reform the multi-billion fashion industry’s definition of beauty, maybe Maddy is the one.