Chipp White comes from an athletic family. When he was younger, his parents naturally thought he would follow in their footsteps, and signed him up for every sport imaginable—basketball, tennis, football, hockey, “almost every sport you could think of that a Canadian kid would play.”
“I was an extremely big kid growing up. Now at 18 years old, I am six-foot seven and 280 pounds. Every time I’m introduced to somebody, they're like, ‘Oh, what position do you play in basketball?’ Or ‘What position do you play in football?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t. I’m a cheerleader’” he says.
As a gay kid with ADHD and autism, Chipp experienced bullying and homophobia from elementary school on. He became alienated from competitive sports, but along the way, he discovered many other interests and talents. He developed a love for acting, cheerleading, and modelling — in 2024, he walked the runway at Toronto Kids Fashion Week. He also became super-fixated on planes, boats, and space, all of which made more sense when, at age 15, he figured out he had autism.
Bullying ultimately also drove him away from cheerleading and acting, and he found, “just no opportunities in our northern Ontario community to pursue modelling.”
During the pandemic lockdown, though, Chipp happened to see a livestreamed Chanel runway show from Paris Fashion Week.
“I was just in awe of the designs and the creations and the art of it. That kind of sparked a little thing inside of me for fashion,” Chipp says. “After grade 10, I dove into it a little bit more, researching different designers, how they worked, and how their creations came to light.” He now aspires to be a fashion designer as creative and successful as Coco Chanel herself.
“I watch the Met Gala every year, where designers come together and put forward different ideas and perspectives on that year’s theme. You can have simple outfits like just a dress with a little knot in it or you can go completely big out of this world. The part that I love best about fashion is that it can be anything you want it to be,” he says. “It’s art.”
In Seneca Polytechnic’s Fashion Arts and Design program, he is learning the craft and business skills that could make his dream a reality. Like his biggest inspiration, Coco Chanel, he is starting from the ground up.
“A lot of people don't know this, but she was an orphan as a kid. She literally came from nothing, saved up everything that she had, and opened her first fashion house in Paris,” he says. “My dream is to open my first fashion house in Toronto, hopefully catch some eyes and then if it grows, which I'm hoping it will, and I'm sure it will—I’m not trying to be cocky, just confident. I think then maybe New York, Milan, Paris and London.”
The scholarship he received from Empowered Kids Ontario will help put Chipp on that journey, though the honour and recognition of receiving the award is much more than it is about affording his education.
“Yes, the money will be very helpful, but it's about the fact that I was picked. I haven’t been picked for very many things in my life and it makes me feel special. Like I am seen, that others recognize that I am different, I am here, and I'm ready to pursue my dreams and I am very thankful that EKO picked me.”
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