Modeling has been seen as something that's only suitable for "perfect looking" people until the recent shift in social attitudes has made modeling agencies and photographers rethink their position on beauty.
It's not strange that these attitudes have shifted, it's strange that it took so long for people to recognize that true beauty is found in diversity, like the unusual beauty of Caitlin Stickels.
Caitlin was born with an extremely rare condition called Cat Eye Syndrome (Schmid Fraccaro), which is a chromosomal disorder that causes "facial disfigurements such as a cleft palate and a non-existent tissue at the colored part of the eye—hence the name ‘Cat Eye’."
Recently the 29-year-old model was offered the gig of a lifetime when photographer Nick Knight asked her to star in a shoot for V Magazine, and now Caitlin hopes her shoot will inspire others:
“They may not always realize it, but even dreaming or wishing that you could be a part of something, that’s still giving yourself a chance. I couldn’t even dream of working with Nick Knight, let alone being in V Magazine.”
-Via DesignTaxi