Victoria’s Secret hired Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio, its first openly transgender model for an upcoming ad campaign.
The 22-year-old model’s agent, Erio Zanon, confirmed to CNN in a piece published Monday that the model had been hired by the underwear company for an ad campaign coming out later this month for its PINK lingerie line. (RELATED: Take A Look Back At Adriana Lima’s Career With Victoria’s Secret)
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This comes after Sampaio posted an image on Instagram telling her followers that she was shooting for the famed underwear brand. (RELATED: Check Out The Hottest Looks From The 60th Grammy Awards [SLIDESHOW]
She captioned the post, “Backstage click @vspink #bastidores #new #vspink #campaign #representatividade #diversity #beauty #selfie #model #life #fashion #usa #vstorm #valentinasampaio #bomdia.”
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Fellow Victoria’s Secret Angel Lais Ribeiro commented on the post with a series of heart emojis and she also tweeted a screenshot of an article about Sampaio being hired.
“First transgender to shoot with Vs! This make me so happy,” the 28-year-old model tweeted.
First transgender to shoot with Vs! This make me so happy! pic.twitter.com/JydOd2mFQb
— Lais Ribeiro (@Lalaribeiro16) August 3, 2019
This comes after Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer for the underwear brand’s parent company, said last year during an interview with Vogue magazine that he didn’t think they should hire “transsexuals” for the annual show because “the show is a fantasy.”
Following backlash over the comment, the lingerie company shared a statement on its official twitter account from Razek apologizing for his “insensitive” remark.
“My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show came across as insensitive,” the statement read. “I apologize. To be clear, we would absolutely cast a transgender model for the show.”