Even though the fashion industry has grown much more diverse over the past few years, most people still have the stereotypical idea of what beauty looks like.
A stunning and lean body and beautiful facial features come to mind, but in reality, beauty is only a state of being.
Melanie Gaydos, a 28-year-old woman from Seattle, had no idea that she would take the fashion industry by storm.
The woman, who studied arts, was born with a rare genetic condition called ectodermal dysplasia, which causes a plethora of problems regarding the development of the body.
Because of her condition, Melanie can’t grow hair or teeth. Pores, nails and small bones can’t be developed completely. She also had an incident when she was a child, as her eyelashes scratched her eyes and made her partially blind.
Ever since she was a child, Melanie was scared of her own appearance. Now she’s embracing it.
The woman has had to deal with a ton of bullying and remarks growing up, and people were intimated by her presence. Luckily for her, she later learned to feel comfortable with who she is and how she looks like. She tried to wear teeth implants for a while, but she now prefers to walk around without any enhancements.
“I also found I was more comfortable with myself how I am, without any enhancements. Maybe other people think I am incomplete, but that is only because they have teeth or know what that is like and cannot understand or picture what it’s like without any. I don’t miss having teeth because I never really had them to begin with,” she told to Independent.
Her modeling career started by responding to a simple Craigslist ad.
One person on Craigslist was looking for ‘unique people’ in New York City for a photo shoot with fashion photographers, and Melanie’s boyfriend convinced her to join for fun. She used to absolutely hate having her picture taken, but she took a leap of faith – and now she’s glad that she did.
The response after the pictures were shared online were mixed, but the number of responses was massive. Everyone started talking about Melanie and how she single-handedly aimed to disrupt the traditional fashion world.
“It was in both positive and negative ways. Mostly people were speechless,” she said.
After the Craigslist shoot, her modeling career took off quickly. She started to feel more confident in front of a camera and she has collaborated with renowned photographers ever since. For example, she had some great pictures taken by Eugenio Recuenco, a big name in the fashion world. She has had photo shoots all over the world and has made quite the name for herself in a short period of time.
She also landed a few acting gigs and even appeared in a metal band video.
Melanie can be prominently seen in the music video of one of Rammstein’s songs, and she played a role in one of the Insidious movies. She also has a number of upcoming gigs that she can’t talk much about, but it’s clear that she’s a busy woman.
“I have definitely become more confident with who I am and myself. I stopped wearing wigs and started modeling. In a way, I was forcing myself to learn more about who I was and to become more comfortable with who I am at my core and natural state of being. This whole process has helped me become more confident, stronger and happier in my existence.”
With over 186,000 followers on Instagram, Melanie Gaydos is an inspiration to the world. And to make her modeling career even sound more impressive, she did everything by herself – she never had a manager and never worked with modeling agencies either.
Lots of people are now praising her for disrupting the fashion world, and she hopes that people will be more open to ‘different’ people in this hard industry.
“It feels amazing. It’s strange because I’m not really doing anything differently that I haven’t been doing before. But it’s really awesome to know that people are now starting to be more open and accepting of someone like me in the fashion industry. I’m really interested in social change and I really think it’s a sign that we’re evolving as a society and that means more to me than anything,” she told Elite Daily.
What an inspiring young woman!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
