Madeline Stuart

Madeline Stuart is a model from Brisbane, Australia. Stuart 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 modeling, and has captured media attention both in Australia and internationally. As with many people with Down syndrome, Stuart 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.

Stuart has modeled in New York 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. She 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.

Stuart 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 2017 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.

With recent calls for more diversity in international popular culture, on runways, and in campaigns; Stuart is in a prime position to be an important face, representative, and contributor or voice for any product, brand, or marketing campaign.

Currently Stuart 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.

Stuart was born with a heart defect, and had open heart surgery when she was only 8 weeks old. In 2019, she underwent another open heart surgery after doctors discovered her mitral valve was leaking, which put her in stage 4 heart failure. She is an advocate for staying healthy and getting regular checkups.