Transgender Victoria’s Secret model Valentina Sampaio has hit back at 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 fellow transgender star Alex Consani, 21, in a historic first for the show – but the show was rejected by fans.
She told me TMZ: ‘It was a dream come true, a dream that so many people told me I could never achieve, and I just did.
‘It makes me feel seen, accepted and appreciated for who I am as a person, as a professional
“It is a collective step forward in celebrating the rights of my community to live and work with dignity.”
Transgender Victoria’s Secret model Valentina Sampaio has hit back at online backlash after walking in the revived fashion show this week
‘We are here. We have always been here. And we will always be there.
“I would like to see more brands embrace diversity and representation.”
Speaking to People, she said that becoming Victoria’s Secret’s first transgender model is something she will “cherish for a lifetime.”
She said: “Today the Victoria’s Secret family showed the world that being transgender is as exceptional and beautiful as anyone else on the catwalk.
“Inclusivity is crucial to the world we build, and I am honored to inspire the next generation with pride, love and hope.”
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 only started calling herself Valentina when she was twelve.
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 had her back and are very proud” of her choice.
Sampaio, 27, who became the brand’s first openly transgender model in 2019, also walked alongside fellow transgender star Alex Consani, 21, in a historic first for the show – but the show was rejected by fans
Consani is seen taking the catwalk during the show
She told TMZ: ‘It was a dream come true, a dream that so many people told me it would be impossible for me to ever achieve, and I just did. ‘It makes me feel seen, accepted and appreciated for who I am as a person, as a professional’
Fans praised the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show presentation held in New York City on Tuesday, the first time the show has been held since 2018. (L-R) Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid and Vittoria Ceretti seen during Tuesday’s festivities in New York
Sampaio was studying fashion when she was discovered by a makeup artist and signed by a modeling agency 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’. According to her agency, Lions Management, it was the first Vogue cover in the world to ever feature a transgender model.
Sampaio has since collaborated with major brands such as Moschino, H&M, Balmain, L’Oréal, Marc Jacobs Beauty and Dior Beauty.
She has also appeared in magazines such as British Vogue, Vogue Brasil, 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 Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
The event is seen by some as a far cry from the event’s heyday, when outrageous walks and outfits dominated the fashion world for weeks after appearing on the show – before the company was hit by scandals, including claims of a ‘toxic’ workplace culture .
Victoria’s Secret also saw sales fall, with critics suggesting that moves towards greater ‘inclusivity’ in recent years – including the use of plus-size models – were not catching on.
It comes three years after the lingerie brand’s controversial body-positive rebrand in 2021.
Victoria’s Secret’s iconic Angels were replaced by “ambassadors” such as soccer star Megan Rapinoe – and the company fired its longtime CEO following declining sales and a shocking revelation accusing the company of misogyny, sexual harassment and bullying.
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 from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
He chose the name Victoria after Queen Victoria because he thought it sounded sophisticated, and added Secret to hint at what was hidden beneath the clothes.
Gigi Hadud opened the latest edition of the legendary show, which was first held in 1995
Eventually, hundreds of stores opened from coast to coast, but it was the glitzy launch of Victoria’s Secret’s first blatantly sexy runway show at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1995 that made the difference.
Aired on network TV in 185 countries, millions of people watched supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen, Tyra Banks and Karen Mulder.
But eventually the tide began to turn in recent years, as the event was judged to be a relic of the past in the #MeToo era.
It was further plunged into controversy when marketing chief Ed Razek came under fire for saying the company would not cast plus-size or “transsexual” models because the show was intended to be a “fantasy.”
His statement landed the brand in hot water and led to them canceling the show in 2019 – the same year he made the comments and resigned.
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Victoria’s Secret focused on promoting diversity by featuring plus-size models Paloma Elsesser and Ali Tate-Cutler in their 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 part of a move to “reduce the reporting of [the company]’, Fortune reported at the time.
Purchases by women aged 18 to 49 had been declining for several years before the move, but the company hoped the show’s return would help boost its fortunes.
Previous shows, before they were canceled, included pop stars such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Ariana Grande.