Melanie Gaydos is one of a growing number of models who are challenging the standards expected by the fashion industry.
Gaydos was born with ectodermal dysplasia, a condition that makes her pores, teeth, nails and small bones form abnormally. She also has alopecia and is partially blind due to eyelash growth that scratched her eyes as a child.
At 26, she had three dental implants and her first set of dentures created after appearing on the reality TV show The Doctors. Eight months later, she took them out and has refused to wear them again.
“People are more comfortable when I have teeth in my mouth,” she told Yahoo. “But I’m not.”
Gaydos, an art graduate based in New York City, has worked with photographers including the world renowned Spanish photographer Eugenio Recuenco and counts Miley Cyrus as a fan.
Melanie Gaydos
The 27-year-old’s career took off after she responded to an advert on Craigslist looking for “unique people” for fashion photographers to shoot while she was still a student.
Gaydos said a boyfriend persuaded her to start modelling “just for fun”, despite hating having her picture taken.
“He helped me to understand that I am the only person who looks like me, that there was potential,” she said.
She insists he condition does not bother her, adding: “Or if it did, it’s because it was something people were telling me I should be upset about. It’s like, people used to ask me: how do you eat without teeth? Well, people with no legs run marathons. It’s all a matter of perception.”
