Prominent lingerie brand signs its first transgender model

For the first time, Victoria’s Secret has cast a transgender woman to do a catalogue photo shoot. Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio, 22, has been hired to do catalogue work for VS Pink, the company’s athletic line.

Sampaio’s agent Erio Zanon said that “this is a great opportunity to break barriers in the fashion business and to contribute to a bigger representation for everybody.” Sampaio also put up an Instagram post with the caption, “Never stop dreaming”. Laverne Cox, a transgender actress commented on Sampaio’s post, “Wow finally!”

The brand has long struggled with backlash for their unrealistic beauty standards and this is a positive step in the right direction. This move was long due and better late than never to take the step, said The New York Times.

Last year, Victoria’s Secret’s chief marketing officer had expressed a lack of interest in casting transgender models. He later apologised for the statement in an interview with Vogue. He also expressed his apologies on Twitter saying that his remark “came across as insensitive.”

“To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show,” he said. “We’ve had transgender models come to castings...and like many others they didn’t make it...But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are.”

Companies like Calvin Klein, Gap and H&M are now featuring transgender models in their campaigns as well.  Playboy’s first transgender Playmate appeared in 2017, and Geena Rocero, a transgender woman, was featured in the magazine this summer.