Victoria’s Secret has hired transgender model, Valentina Sampaio. She will be the first trans model featured in Victoria’s Secret campaign.
The 22-year-old Brazilian beauty posted a picture of herself wearing a pink bathrobe backstage at the campaign shoot. Sampaio captioned the photo “Backstage click @vspink.”
Sampaio’s agent Erio Zanon released a statement on his client’s exciting new job to E! News.
“She is super happy and proud to represent all her community. She hopes this opportunity shall be another step to break barriers,” he said.
Zanon also shared that the new Pink campaign is scheduled to be released later this month.
Victoria’s Secret Controversy Leads To Rebrand
Neither Victoria’s Secret nor its parent company, L Brands have commented on the groundbreaking news. The lingerie company is reportedly in the middle of a rebrand, after the controversial comments made by chief marketing officer, Ed Razek last year.
In an interview with Vogue, Razek said he didn’t think “transsexuals should be in the show because the show is fantasy.” His words caused quite the uproar, as well as a decline in sales for the lingerie company.
Valentina Sampaio making fashion history as the first transgender model for Victoria’s Secret is a step in the right direction. She is the perfect choice for the company to showcase its attempt to be inclusive.
The Brazilian beauty has been breaking barriers since she started modeling as a teen. Two years ago, Sampaio was the first transgender model to grace the cover of Vogue Paris.
“The world has taken huge steps for transgender people in recent years. My cover is another small step, an important step that shows we have the force to be Vogue cover girls. The fashion industry is an instrument to raise flags promoting diversity, where things are more fluid, and beauty evolves. Fashion is a world that’s freer,” she told Buzzfeed of history-making cover.
Who Is Valentina Sampaio?
Sampaio was born in Northern Brazil in a small fishing town called Aquiraz. Her father is a fisherman, and her mother is a school teacher.
She was born a boy but at 8-years-old, a psychiatrist identified her as transgender. It wasn’t until she was 12-years-old that she took on the name Valentina. The model admits to having a wonderful childhood full of friends and family that supported her transition.
A make-up artist discovered Sampaio at age 16. Since then, the model has been fighting for equal rights for transgender models in the fashion world.
“It’s not the gender of a person that determines your character or whether you’re good at something or not. Many times transgender women find the doors are already closed for them professionally, which only marginalizes us further, but everyone has something to show,” she expressed in her Vogue Paris interview.
Victoria’s Secret will have feature transgender model Valentina Sampaio in the new Pink campaign. She is the first trans model to be hired by the lingerie brand and it is about time!