Elle Chante

Proof that there’s space in the modelling industry for people with disabilities.

Gorgeous, talented, with a sweet and polite English charm to her, is 23-year-old Elle Chante. But under her soft-spoken and calm demeanour is a powerful testament to the tenacity of the human spirit.

Elle won the 2019 Ms Curvaceous UK competition while battling complex health conditions. Elle shared with us that she experienced her body shutting down several times and also experienced severe physical pain during the competition, which made taking part in the workshop hard for her.

The UK size 16/18 model adds she didn’t think she would emerge as the winner but now she has, she will now use the platform to advocate for the modelling industry to open up its doors to people with illnesses and disabilities, and also to raise awareness of her health conditions.

Owing to her ailing health as a child, she was unable to perform many of the activities most people don’t even have to think about before they engage in:

“Joint Hypermobility Syndrome is a genetic condition where my collagen is stretchy and my tissue is stretchier than it should be, which causes me a lot of nerve pain, joint pain, and I am more prone to injury.”

She also struggles with another illness linked to JHS, which she describes as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is POTS for short. With this condition, it means that whenever she changes her posture, she can pass out.

“It means that my nervous system doesn’t work as it’s supposed to and that affects things like your heart rate, keeping yourself warm and all the things that normally just work.”

The direct effect of these two battles she faces daily is that she suffers from regular bouts of fatigue and widespread pain. Additionally, she developed multiple mental health conditions from her lifetime of trauma. Among these are anxiety, depression, complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and agoraphobia (a fear of going outside).  

While Elle explains that, growing up she grappled with many emotions owing to the trauma and health conditions she experienced, there was a silver lining as the experiences she had taught her how to be authentic to herself, with her often using music as an outlet to express herself. She also is thankful for the support of her family, a small, but close, group of friends, her partner and her best friend, who all contribute in different but meaningful ways to her life. Elle says their encouragement, along with the music, has made dealing with her strenuous illnesses more bearable.

In 2019, when she entered the Ms Curvaceous competition, she said she had no intentions of winning as she didn’t have the confidence to become a model.

However, as she took part more in the workshops and training, she developed a quiet determination to see the competition through to the end, despite her health challenges.

True to her cause, despite battling with two sets of illnesses, one physical and another mental, Elle says she travelled for over two hours every weekend from Birmingham to London, so that she would be able to show up to the Ms Curvaceous Competition for the finals:

“When I actually did the final for Ms Curvaceous, we were travelling every weekend for about four to five weeks to do the catwalk training. I was finding travelling difficult because of my legs. By the time it got to the finals for the competition, I came in with a walking stick because I was really struggling and in pain. I took some strong painkillers, and I did the catwalk and I don’t even know if I was walking properly or coordinated. I just did my best,” she says with a warm pride in her voice.

Given the toll her illnesses have on her body, she says things that other models do without thinking about, she has to take into consideration and plan well ahead.

“There’s a lot of travel with modelling and that can make it really difficult. I have to calculate everything and estimate how it will affect my health. Things like figuring out how much to rest before a shoot, how much to rest after the shoot and stuff like that. It’s complicated, but I feel like it’s something that is rewarding,” she adds.

Now, some three years later, since she first entered the competition, she remains indebted to Ms Curvaceous, not only for the impact it had on her career but also the community of women it introduced her to:

“When I went to the confidence-building workshop, one of the things that really struck me the most was seeing some of the girls from previous years. They did some catwalks and stuff like that. I just remember feeling completely awestruck seeing these women doing their catwalks. They were different from the bodies that we normally see in stereotypical media and just looked so confident, graceful and confident in themselves. That was my first introduction to seeing people being comfortable with all body types. Before that, I had never been around people like that and that was just eye-opening for me. “

Determined to live her life to the fullest, these days the 5 ft 10 in (177cm) model is focusing on her musical career. She adds that her life has inspired many of the songs she has written.

Elle remains committed to using her modelling and influence to advocate for the modelling industry to be more inclusive, especially in the case of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

“I’m looking forward to bringing my modelling and my singing closer together. I feel like they have existed in slightly different spaces and I’d like for them to be a bit closer. I aim to bring performances to audiences that incorporate music, fashion and disability access to represent plus sized disabled models and artists around the world.”