Contestants on the 21st cycle of America's Next Top Model completed their first photoshoot earlier this week — if you didn't vote on their photos already, too late; better luck next time. One of the fourteen model hopefuls in the running for the title and assorted bargain-basement prizes that now come with it is 19-year-old Chantelle Young. Two things make Chantelle stand out: 1) she's Canadian and 2) she has vitiligo, a condition causing patchy depigmentation of the skin.
Via Instagram, Chantelle (whose real name is Winnie Harlow) describes herself as a "vitiligo spokesmodel." She's walked Toronto Fashion Week's runways and has many an editorial to her name, but it's likely her desire to promote the condition helped in the show's casting stages — making her the latest in a long line of models Tyra has presented to promote diversity, and "challenge" the boundaries of beauty/model potential. Take her first plea video to the show's voting fans, for example: Chantelle eloquentiy discusses vitiligo without entering sob story territory. "A lot of people have a story or a background," she says, "but mine is painted on my body."
And it's these moments that make Top Model, for all its hackneyed dramatics and unrealistic proclamations of high fashion success for its contestants, worthwhile. Still. A real focus on the championing of diversity remains, arguably not just for the ratings either. (Though let's not pretend that doesn't factor in.) Tyra means well, even if she goes crazy and YELLS at a girl once in a blue moon. She really does want to shake the fashion industry up, and you've got to give her props for never letting up. Chantelle is likely to be her latest poster-girl, and really, it's a beautiful poster.
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