After fronting a campaign for Gucci Beauty, the 18-year-old performing arts student is only just getting started and wants more visibility for all types of people with disabilities
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At 18, what had you achieved with your life? Passed some exams, learned to drive (not my gay ass!), maybe got a job at your local supermarket. It’s unlikely though that you had fronted a Gucci Beauty campaign like Ellie Goldstein, but then again she has been dreaming about this for over a decade.
“From the age of five, I knew I wanted to be a model and be famous,” Goldstein tells Dazed Beauty. “I got into it three years ago when I joined Zebedee Management.” It’s an impressive feat to have under her belt, even moreso as the first model with Down’s Syndrome to model for the fashion brand, possibly any fashion brand. “The world needs to accept everyone whatever shape or size or disability you have,” Goldstein says on how she’d like to see more diversity.
Since working with the Italian fashion house, she’s done more jobs here and there, but she understandly wants more! “The future of beauty is going to be great, diverse, and inclusive,” she says, hoping that it will be more representative of people with disabilities – visible or not.
Here, we speak to Ellie about when she feels most beautiful and how she wants to change the world.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and where you grew up?
Ellie Goldstein: I grew up in Ilford, Essex. I went to mainstream nursery, primary school, and secondary school and I’m now at a local college studying Performing Arts.
What is it you do and how did you get into it?
Ellie Goldstein: From the age of five, I knew I wanted to be a model and be famous! I got into it three years ago when I joined Zebedee Management.
What’s been your career highlight so far and what do you hope to accomplish ultimately?
My career highlight has been the Gucci campaign. They got the most ever likes and comments on the Gucci Instagram account nearly 900,000. I love and enjoy all my shoots as they are all very different and I meet lots of great people
Hopefully this has launched my future and I hope to work for them again and other brands and be on lots of front covers. I have been working on lots of great shoots for Primark, Kurt Geiger, and Sports Direct, among many others.
What does beauty mean to you?
Ellie Goldstein: Beauty means that you should just be yourself and show the world who you are.
Describe your beauty aesthetic in three words.
Ellie Goldstein: Beautiful, happiness, acceptable.
How do you assert your identity and experiences through your beauty?
Ellie Goldstein: I assert my identity and experiences through my beauty just by being me and showing my natural beauty.
Which fictional character do you most relate to and why?
Ellie Goldstein: I relate to Snow White as I have skin as white as hers.
When do you feel most beautiful?
Ellie Goldstein: I feel most beautiful when I am getting ready to go out or when I am at a shoot be pampered.
How do you want to change the world?
Ellie Goldstein: The world needs to accept everyone whatever shape or size or disability you have.
You’re the editor of a time-travelling beauty journal 100 years from now, what beauty trends are you reporting on?
Ellie Goldstein: I am reporting on men and women, girls and boys with various disabilities – visible or not.
You have to donate a feature/limb of your body to an icon of yours. You get nothing in return. What feature/limb do you give and why?
Ellie Goldstein: I would give my hand, as I could manage with one and would like to help someone.
If you had to choose one surgical enhancement, what would it be and why?
Ellie Goldstein: I wouldn’t choose one as I don’t believe in enhancing yourself, be natural.
Would you rather live forever as an old person or live your life in reverse?
Ellie Goldstein: Live forever.
What is the future of beauty?
Ellie Goldstein: The future of beauty is going to be great, diverse, and inclusive.