Model with Down Syndrome to walk New York Fashion Week

In just one year, Madeline Stuart, an 18-year-old with Down syndrome, has become the face of two fashion campaigns. Now the Australia native is set to walk in New York Fashion Week on September 13, reports Huffington Post. 

"When we were asked to do New York Fashion Week, it didn't surprise me," said her mother, Rosanne Stuart, in an interview with Cosmopolitan. "I don't think anything really surprises me anymore. She's been asked to do a lot of stuff and I was hoping to she'd get asked to do NYFW but I assumed it would happen. I hope that doesn't sound too pretentious."

Stuart will walk the runway in a Moda show in association with the Christopher Reeve Foundation. The Italian fashion label previously featured models with disabilities  in its show at NYFW in February, just after Jamie Brewer became the first model with Down syndrome to walk down the runway at Carrie Hammer. In an interview with The Huffington Post last month, Stuart discussed how she and her daughter select which brands to work with. "We want to keep working for smaller companies, charitable companies or start-up companies so we can continue to help people," she said. "We really believe in inclusion, so that means everyone as long as it is within our beliefs and morals." 

Though she's on her way to model at one of the most important fashion events of the year, the 18-year-old is just your average teen when she's not working. "Madeline loves playing sports: We are pretty much playing sports every day of the week, and if she is not playing sports, she is hanging out with her friends or chilling on the iPad," her mom told HuffPost.