




Australian teen Madeline Stuart — who made headlines earlier this year as the first model with Down syndrome to land a fashion campaign — made her New York Fashion Week debut on Sunday in the FTL Moda presentation.
The 18-year-old flew 28 hours from Australia for the opportunity, according to Yahoo, and rocked the runway in two looks by South African designer Hendrik Vermeulen.
Surprisingly, Stuart is not the first model with Down syndrome to strut her stuff on the NYFW catwalk. In February, actress Jamie Brewer, famous for her roles in the “American Horror Story” anthology, walked the runway during Carrie Hammer’s Role Models Not Runway Models show.
The Aussie was joined at the show by other models with disabilities, including congenital amputee Shaholly Ayers, paralytic Leslie Irby and Rebekah Marine, a model with a bionic arm.
Fashion producers FTL Moda partnered with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Global Disability Inclusion to conceive Sunday’s show, hosted at Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Station.



