My heart melted when I saw a young woman modeling for New York Fashion Week. Now, this stuff doesn't usually phase me — chiffon and taffeta do not exactly pull on my heartstrings — but this woman was different. Her name is Madeline Stuart and she has Down syndrome.
The fashion industry has been making many great leaps in the direction of diversity, with more equal representation for people of all races, sizes, shapes, and sexual orientations and that alone has been a breath of fresh air. The definition of beauty is beginning to change. However, up to this point, there has not been a place in the fashion world for someone like Madeline — someone who is different, and boldly so.
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The stigma against individuals with Down syndrome is that they are somehow less able to do average, everyday things like working a job or getting married, and Madeline is on a mission to make sure this misconception is removed. Madeline's mom, Rosanne Stuart, said in an interview with BuzzFeed Life,
"I think it is time people realized that people with Down syndrome can be sexy and beautiful and should be celebrated."
Since last year, Madeline has been breaking ground and shattering stereotypes against people with physical and mental differences, and has helped to prove that beauty and brilliant potential comes in a very wide array of packages.
In her most recent photo shoot, Madeline posed in designer wedding dresses alongside a male model. Both Madeline and her mom had hopes that this shoot would help to break down some misconceptions people have about Down syndrome and especially about their ability to love. People who have Down syndrome are just as capable of love — and lots of it — just as much as the average person, if not more. They love their families to no end, so why, then, should it be any different with a husband or a boyfriend?
This is just one of the many stereotypes Madeline is breaking down, simply by being who she is and not backing down. And she certainly does not take no for an answer when it comes to people telling her what she can and can not do.
Madeline Stuart and the beautiful message she brings is something that needs to be heard more often, especially in the fashion world. You see, everyone has wonderful and unique potential inside them and each person is beautiful. The sooner we start to see that, the better off we will be.
We need to stop being afraid of what is unknown to us. Mystery does not have to spur on hate — it can drive us to expand our minds and to learn to love deeper and more fully.
We need more women and men like Madeline Stuart to help us get to the next level, to help us break all the long-held stereotypes, and move on to greater things as a society. But she can not do it on her own. We have to have minds and hearts that are willing to hold back and to stay open long enough to let the love in.
And until that happens — until hate is no longer the primary reaction to the unknown — we need more women of courage and women of beauty. We need more Madeline Stuarts.
