Valentina Sampaio Is Reportedly Victoria’s Secret’s First Transgender Mannequin

Instagram / Valentina Sampaio

Valentina Sampaio has reportedly been employed to seem in a Victoria’s Secretmarketing campaign, which might make her the primary brazenly transgender mannequin for the lingerie firm, which has been attempting to rebrand.

The 22-year-old Brazilian lately posted on her Instagram web page a photograph of her sitting in a bathrobe backstage at what she mentioned was a photograph shoot for the corporate’s PINK line on Lengthy Island, New York.

“Backstage click on @vspink #bastidores #new #vspink #marketing campaign #representatividade #variety #magnificence #selfie #mannequin #life #style #usa #vstorm #valentinasampaio #bomdia,” she wrote.

She additionally posted a selfie video, writing, “By no means cease dreaming genteee #staytuned #bastidores #new #vspink #marketing campaign #representatividade #variety #magnificence #selfie #life #style #usa #vstorm #valentinasampaio,” in addition to a pic of her sitting and smiling, writing, “Life is wonderful… Love extra and hate much less, hate is ineffective, simply don’t waste time with it!”

Victoria’s Secret and mother or father firm L Manufacturers haven’t commented on her posts, which come amid the group’s try and rebrand amid declining gross sales and following controversial feedback that the group’s chief advertising and marketing officer Ed Razek had made final yr concerning the concept of together with transgender and plus-size fashions within the Victoria’s Secret Vogue Present. 

“First transgender to shoot with Vs! This make me so joyful! ❤️” Victoria’s Secret Angel and fellow Brazilian mannequin Lais Ribiero  tweeted on Saturday.

“Wow lastly!” fellow transgender star, LGBTQ+ activist and Orange Is the New Black alum Laverne Cox commented on Sampaio’s put up.

Whereas Sampaio (to not be confused with Victoria’s Secret Angel Sara Sampaio) would make style historical past along with her mere involvement with the chain, she is going to doubtless not get to stroll anytime quickly at Victoria’s Secret Vogue Present, because it apparently will not happen this yr, in accordance with current feedback made by Victoria’s Secret Angel Shanina Shaik.

“I am positive they’re attempting to work on branding and new methods to do the present as a result of it is one of the best present on the planet,” she instructed Australia’s Every day Telegraph.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Pictures for L’Oreal Paris

L Manufacturers has not commented on Shaik’s feedback.

In 2017, Sampaio made style historical past by turning into the first transgender mannequin to seem on the duvet of a Vogue publication, particularly Vogue Paris.

In November, Razek instructed the principle Vogue journal, “When you’re asking if we have thought of placing a transgender mannequin within the present or checked out placing a plus-size mannequin within the present, now we have.”

“Do I take into consideration variety? Sure. Does the model take into consideration variety? Sure. Do we provide bigger sizes? Sure,” he mentioned. “It is like, why would not your present do that? Should not you’ve got transsexuals within the present? No. No, I do not suppose we should always. Properly, why not? As a result of the present is a fantasy. It is a 42-minute leisure particular. That is what it’s. It’s the solely certainly one of its variety on the planet, and another style model on the planet would take it in a minute, together with the rivals which are carping at us. And so they carp at us as a result of we are the chief.”

Weeks later, Halsey, who carried out on the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Vogue Present, wrote on Twitter that after the occasion was filmed, “some feedback had been made concerning the present that I merely can not ignore.”

“As a member of the LGBTQ+ group, I’ve no tolerance for a scarcity of inclusivity. Particularly not one motivated by stereotype,” she wrote. “If you’re a trans individual studying this, and these feedback made you’re feeling alienated or invalidated please know that you’ve got allies. We stand in solidarity, and full and complete acceptance is the one “fantasy” that I help…”

The reported scrapping of the Victoria’s Secret Vogue Present this yr comes months after the New York Instances mentioned that L Manufacturers’ chief govt Leslie Wexner introduced in a memo to the chain’s associates that the occasion would now not air on community tv after an almost two-decade run. Wexler mentioned that the corporate had been “taking a recent have a look at each facet of our enterprise” in current months, and that the model “should evolve and alter to develop.”