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AS SHE RELEASES HER MEMOIR, AGAINST ALL ODDS, PIONEERING MODEL Ellie Goldstein TALKS TO MEGAN CONNER ABOUT USING HER PLATFORM FOR GOOD
When Ellie Goldstein became the first model with Down syndrome to front a fashion campaign for Gucci, her world altered overnight. ‘Gucci posted my picture on its Instagram,’ she recalls, ‘and it got the most likes they have ever had.’ Countless media requests ensued, and a dream cover of Vogue. But what the 21-year-old could never have expected was that she would one day share her story in a book, Against All Odds, released this month as the debut title under Katie Piper’s new literary imprint The UnSeen, spotlighting remarkable stories of inspirational individuals who have triumphed over adversity.
When we meet, Goldstein – who is also a disability advocate and UK ambassador for Barbie, representing a person with Down syndrome – she has just returned from the London premiere of Barbie the movie, where she joined Piper and stars such as Sam Smith and Ryan Gosling on the pink carpet. ‘I LOVED it,’ she says. ‘I love glitter and colour and dressing up, and I love Katie. She’s an inspiration – Iwant to show the world I can do anything.’
In parts a memoir about her modelling career (Goldstein got her first gig in an Asda advert and worked for Nike and Adidas before Gucci came calling), Against All Odds is a celebration of the advances the fashion industry has made in representing diversity and inclusion, but also a personal story about Goldstein’s start in life, when she was ‘written off’ by medical teams in the hospital where her mother gave birth. ‘My mum didn’t
