Madeline is a unique 21-year-old model from Brisbane, Australia. Madeline notably, has been dubbed by the press as not only a supermodel, but “the world’s most famous model with Down syndrome”. This incredibly courageous, beautiful, and talented young woman has had astonishing success in the short time she has been modelling, and has captured media attention both in Australia and internationally. As with many people with Down syndrome, Madeline struggled with her weight for a long time, and in early 2015 she decided to get healthy and chase after her dreams which included dance. She lost over 20kg, and is now changing society’s perception of people with disabilities, one photo shoot at a time.
Madeline’s career started when Maddy attended a Fashion Parade late 2015 with her mum and said to her mum “mum me model”. Rosanne knew it would take a lot of work and dedication, and told Madeline if she wanted to commit to the journey, she would fully support her.
After Madeline lost a few more kilos of weight, Rosanne (Madeline’s Mum) created social media accounts and posted a “before and after” photo online to show the results and to encourage others. Rosanne was very confident that the story Madeline had to share with the world would travel around the globe, long before it actually hit the internet. Just as predicted, the photo went viral. Instantly, overnight – Maddy’s social media numbers grew over 100 thousand, and within a few days Madeline’s photo had been viewed over 6.8 million times. Over the next few days Madeline hit headlines all over the globe with publications from Iceland, Germany, the US, Australia, Mexico, Cuba, and the UK; nearly everywhere in the world had picked up the story.
Madeline has modeled in New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, Art Hearts Fashion Week, Style Fashion Week, Melange Fashion Week, Caspian Fashion, Runway Dubai, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week China, Birmingham Fashion Week, Sunshine Coast Fashion Festival, and dozens of others globally. Madeline supports dozens of Non Profits some of which she has made special appearances at, or performed a professional dance routine, or modelled in their fundraising Fashion Shows. Such charities include: Multi Cap Foundation, Endeavour Foundation Australia, Silver Linings Project, Vets Intl, The DisABILITY Museum, Melbourne City Mission, The Carol Galvin Foundation, Kulture City, Embrace Kulture, FUB Sweden, ‘I can, I will’ Australia, Inside Outside Dance Ensemble, Buddy Walk NYC, Horizon Stars – The ARC of the Emerald Coast, Special Olympics of New York, and Cultural Device Project and Radical Beauty Project, among many others.
Madeline has been featured in leading publications; Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, Women’s Weekly, New York Times, Elle, Marie Claire, People, paper and Cleo, to name a few. In 2018 she has already booked work in Sweden, Russia, Dubai, Uganda, Lebanon, Beijing, Australia, India, London, and America. She has also been nominated for the Pride of Australia and Young Australian of the Year Award for 2015 & 2016, and named Model of the year for 2016 by World Fashion Media. Additionally she was awarded the prestigious 2015 Model of the Year Award at international fashion show Melange in San Francisco, whose partners include Jean Paul Gaultier, Sephora, and Nicole Miller. Last year she received the Quincy Jones exceptional Advocacy award for her work in the Disability industry.
With recent calls for more diversity in international popular culture, on runways, and in campaigns; Madeline is in a prime position to be an important face, representative, and contributor or voice for any product, brand, or marketing campaign. Madeline has endorsed such products as VP WOW, Flat Tummy Tea, ModCloth, JBronze by Jennifer Hawkins, Michael Todd, Laceez, Promgirl, Weetbix, EverMaya, Manifesta, LLL Designs, GlossiGirl, and several others.
Currently Madeline oversees her dance school in Brisbane, ‘Inside, Outside Dance Ensemble’ while also participating in Special Olympic games all while balancing her very hectic modeling career. By February 2017, Madeline will be launching her own Fashion Label: 21 Reasons Why by Madeline Stuart. A fashionably casual chic Women’s Ready-To-Wear line. B-Reel Productions has been capturing Madeline’s tour over the last 8 months and will be releasing her documentary in 2018.
