Transgender Victoria’s Secret model Valentina Sampaio responded to online backlash after walking in the revived fashion show this week.
Sampaio, 27, who became the brand’s first openly transgender model in 2019, also walked alongside transgender star Alex Consani, 21, in a historic first for the show, but the show was criticized by critics. fans.
she said TMZ: ‘It was a dream come true, one that many people told me would be impossible for me to ever realize and I just did it.
‘It makes me feel seen, accepted and valued for who I am as a person, as a professional.
“It is collectively a step forward in celebrating my community’s rights to live and work with dignity.”
Transgender Victoria’s Secret model Valentina Sampaio responded to online backlash after walking in the revived fashion show this week.
‘We are here. We have always been here. And we will always be here.
“I would like to see more brands embrace diversity and representation.”
Speaking to People, she said that becoming Victoria’s Secret’s first trans model is something she will “cherish for a lifetime.”
She said: “Today, the Victoria’s Secret family has shown the world that being trans is as exceptional and beautiful as anyone else on that catwalk.
“Inclusion is crucial to the world we are building and I am honored to walk with pride, love and the hope of inspiring the next generation.”
Sampaio was born in a fishing village in Aquiraz, Brazil, and said she was eight years old when a psychologist identified her as transgender, according to Business Insider.
However, she did not start calling herself Valentina until she was 12 years old.
She told the New York Times that she “always felt like a girl,” adding that her father, who is a fisherman, and her mother, who is a teacher, “always supported her and are very proud” of her choice.
Sampaio, 27, who became the brand’s first openly transgender model in 2019, also walked alongside transgender star Alex Consani, 21, in a historic first for the show, but the show was criticized by critics. fans.
Consani is seen coming out onto the runway at the show.
She told TMZ: “It was a dream come true, one that a lot of people told me would be impossible to do and I just did it.” ‘It makes me feel seen, accepted and valued for who I am as a person, as a professional’
Fans criticized the presentation of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show held in New York City on Tuesday, the first time the show has been held since 2018. (LR) Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid and Vittoria Ceretti seen during the festivities on Tuesday in New York
Sampaio was studying fashion when she was discovered by a makeup artist and hired by a modeling agency based in São Paulo.
But it wasn’t always easy to find work, as some clients refused to hire her because of her transgender identity.
In 2017, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Paris with the title ‘Transgender Beauty’. It was the first Vogue cover worldwide to feature a transgender model, according to her agency, Lions Management.
Since then, Sampaio has worked with big brands such as Moschino, H&M, Balmain, L’Oreal, Marc Jacobs Beauty and Dior Beauty.
She has also appeared in magazines such as British Vogue, Vogue Brazil, Vogue Germany, Vogue Taiwan, Harper’s Bazaar Spain, Out Magazine, Vanity Fair Italia and Elle France.
She was also the first trans model to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Some have seen the event as a far cry from its heyday, when outrageous walks and outfits dominated the fashion world for weeks after appearing on the show, before the company was hit by scandals that included claims of a workplace culture.” “toxic.”
Victoria’s Secret has also seen its sales decline, with critics suggesting that moves towards greater “inclusivity” in recent years – including the use of plus-size models – have not been appealing.
It comes three years after the lingerie brand’s controversial body-positive rebranding in 2021.
The iconic Victoria’s Secret Angels were replaced by ‘ambassadors’ like soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and the company fired its former CEO in the wake of falling sales and an explosive revelation that accused the company of misogyny, harassment sexual and intimidation.
The company was founded in 1977 by American businessman Roy Raymond, who set up a small chain of boudoir lingerie stores.
Five years later he sold the company to clothing magnate Les Wexner for $1 million, a fraction of its current value. Raymond later took his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
He had chosen the name Victoria in honor of Queen Victoria, thinking it sounded refined, and added Secret to refer to what was hidden under clothes.
Gigi Hadud inaugurated the latest edition of the legendary show, which was held for the first time in 1995
Over time, hundreds of stores opened from coast to coast, but it was the dazzling launch of Victoria’s Secret’s first unabashedly sexy runway show at New York’s Plaza Hotel in 1995 that made the difference.
Broadcast on television networks in 185 countries, millions of people tuned in to watch supermodels such as Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Tyra Banks and Karen Mulder.
But eventually the tide began to turn in recent years when the event was deemed to seem like a relic of the past in the #MeToo era.
Controversy was further engulfed when marketing chief Ed Razek was criticized for saying the firm would not cast plus-size or “transgender” models because the show was meant to be a “fantasy.”
His statement got the brand into trouble and led them to cancel the show in 2019, the same year he made the comments and resigned.
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Victoria’s Secret turned to promoting diversity by including top models Paloma Elsesser and Ali Tate-Cutler in its campaigns.
They also hired Valentina Sampaio, their first transgender model, to star in their new VS Pink campaign after Razek left.
And the lingerie giant’s parent company, L Brands, confirmed in November 2019 that its annual show would not take place, with the decision being part of a move to “evolve (the company’s) message,” Fortune reported. then.
Purchases by women aged 18 to 49 had been declining for several years before the move, but the company hopes the return of the show will help boost its fortunes.
Among the artists who participated in previous shows, before they were canceled, were pop stars such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Ariana Grande.