Actress Jaimie Brewer walks the runway during the Role Models Not Runway Models - Carrie Hammer Runway.
Photo / Getty
Actress Jaimie Brewer walks the runway during the Role Models Not Runway Models - Carrie Hammer Runway.
Photo / Getty
American Horror Story actress Jamie Brewer has become the first woman with Down syndrome to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week.
The 30-year-old strutted the catwalk in designer Carrie Hammer's show on Thursday morning wearing a bespoke ensemble which was inspired by her roles on the popular FX horror series.
Actress Jaimie Brewer walks the runway during the Role Models Not Runway Models. Photo / Getty
"Young girls and even young women... [see me] and say: 'Hey, if she can do it so can I,'" Brewer told Today. "It's a true inspiration being a role model for any young women to [encourage them] in being who they are and showing who they are."
Brewer walked in Carrie Hammer's fashion show as a part of the designer's Role Models Not Runway Models campaign, which she first began after being asked to show her collection at New York Fashion Week last year.
"I called up my existing clients who were all incredible women and one of them happened to be a doctor and a sex therapist who happened to be in wheelchair," Hammer said.
"It was never intended to be this incredible statement."
After Dr Danielle Sheypuk became the first woman to head down the runway in a wheelchair, hundreds of people reached out to Hammer to thank her, including campaigner Katie Driscoll, who runs a nonprofit organisation which advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the media.
Driscoll, who was a co-founder of Changing the Face of Beauty, has a daughter Grace, who was born with Down syndrome.
"Thank you for being the change that is long overdue," she wrote to Hammer.
"I could literally cry every time I read an article talking about your decision to include a model who just happens to have a disability! YOU are what this world needed!"
Driscoll also asked Hammer to find a role model for Grace.
Last September, Hammer left a lasting impact on New York Fashion Week after she enlisted quadruple amputee Karen Crespo to model her spring 2015 designs.
Carrie Hammer and actress Jamie Brewer backstage at Role Models Not Runway Models show.
Photo / Getty
But she never forgot about Grace - or her mother's request.
When Hammer asked Driscoll to suggest a model, she immediately chose Brewer.
The actress, who is best known for playing Addie in American Horror Story: Murder House, Nan in American Horror Story: Coven and Marjorie in American Horror Story: Freak Show, is also an activist for intellectual disabilities.
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