Victoria's Secret has hired their first openly transgender model for the lingerie retailer's new PINK campaign, according to a report by People magazine.
Brazilian transgender supermodel Valentina Sampaio, 22, posted to Instagram about her involvement in the campaign with the caption "Never stop dreaming gente." "Gente" is Portuguese for "people."
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The caption accompanies a video reportedly taken backstage for the campaign.
Celebrities and fellow models voiced their support for Sampaio's relationship with Victoria's Secret.
Transgender actress Laverne Cox commented under the post, cheering "Wow finally!"
Victoria's Secret Angel and Brazilian model Lais Ribeiro tweeted her support: "First transgender to shoot with Vs! This makes me so happy!"
Sampaio's hiring comes less than a year after Victoria's Secret and L Brands' chief marketing officer Ed Razek made comments saying the company would not hire transgender or plus-size models to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
"No, I don't think we should [hire transgender models]," Razek said during an interview with Vogue. "Because the show is a fantasy. It's a 42-minute entertainment special."
Razek also said the brand wouldn't hire plus-size models for the show, since "no one had any interest in it," when the idea was pursued in 2000.
Razek later issued an apology following backlash from both celebrities and models.
“My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize,” Razek said. “To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We’ve had transgender models come to casting… 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.”
