Madison Johnstone
- beautyandavoice
- Aug 11, 2023
- 3 min read
Madison Johnstone: Finding her Genuine Beauty
In Hamilton, Ontario, where Madison Johnstone grew up, there was no possibility for her to truthfully express herself. She was often bullied in highschool, and was left feeling betrayed by many of her experiences there. Bad acne and an oppressive social environment caused her self-esteem to lower tremendously as she struggled through adolescence. Madison made a variety of attempts to fit in and be loved by the people around her, but these attempts resulted in the obscuring of her true self. For a long time, she engaged in superficial fashion and trends she didn’t really believe in. No one could foresee the grand and beautiful future of genuine living that awaited her.
Around a year ago, Madison was discovered on social media. To her own surprise, the modeling world quickly opened up to her, and embraced her with all its exciting suddenness. Skeptical of the abrupt opportunity, Madison did not initially believe that she had been scouted by a real agency, but upon doing some research, it was revealed that the chance was entirely genuine. Before two weeks had elapsed, her career had begun, and Madison undertook her first journey to Paris: “I flew out to Paris right away and my whole life changed.” Out of a completely unexpected circumstance, she found her summer being spent in the capital of the fashion industry, walking along the Seine, and meeting the biggest names in the modeling world. Less than a week into her stay, Madison’s first job was confirmed—the little Hamilton girl would be featured in a Lancôme campaign: “Modeling has taken me very far, farther than I thought it ever would.”
Similar successes followed shortly. Soon Madison had worked with such top brands as L’Oréal, Balenciaga, Baccarat, and Fred Jewelry, among a whole host of others. The greatest achievement in her work to date, has been her starring role in the worldwide L’Or barista coffee and espresso system commercial directed by Bruno Aveillan, celebrated French filmmaker and contemporary artist. Fashion has also taken her to Seoul, South Korea, where she was featured in several leading fashion magazines. After working locally in Montreal and Toronto, Madison will be returning to Paris for this upcoming autumn season, where she expects to continue developing her career and obtaining new heights of achievement. “I continue to get amazing jobs and it feels surreal.” She says, “Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime and I never wanted to have in the back of my mind ‘what if’.”
Since she has become a model, Madison’s ideas about the world have changed. As she discovered different countries while traveling, various hardships and difficulties that might not have afflicted her, or even been known to her, at home in Canada, suddenly became an important and real part of her life. She cites a friend of hers, encountered abroad, whose childhood home was destroyed in the Ukraine war. “All her memories as a child where she grew up, vanished.” Madison reflects, “It makes me appreciate what I have a lot more than I did before.
Modeling has allowed Madison to discover a place where she is capable of loving herself to the fullest degree possible. The fake aspect of North American beauty standards, and the restrictions upon her self-expression that she was forced to adhere to in her adolescence, have dissolved before the astounding freedom of the greater world. Madison has found a particular appreciation in Europe for the natural quality of French beauty standards, which disdain any impinging of the natural beauties, features and imperfections of human appearances. This openness has helped her to accept her own beauty, and learn to cherish the very nature of what she is: “Their beauty standards I find to be much more real, and people embrace their natural beauty, old, young, nothing is frowned upon.”
Come the fall, Madison will be storming the avenues of Paris once again, surrounded by good people, good vibes, and the most genuine version of herself.
