Victoria’s Secret campaign features first model with Down syndrome

This week, model Sofia Jirau, 24, became the first person with Down syndrome to appear in a campaign for the Victoria’s Secret.

The Puerto Rican appeared alongside 17 other women to promote the new Love Cloud collection, which the brand created to “reinforce Victoria’s Secret’s commitment to welcoming and celebrating all women,” according to a press release.

The group is made up of professional and non-professional models of all skin tones, body sizes and ages. famous faces like Hailey Bieber, Taylor Hill and Adut Akech join Celilo Miles, an indigenous firefighter who poses in her helmet, and Sylvia Buckler, an accessory designer and mom who holds her pregnancy belly for the photo. Valentina Sampaio, who became the lingerie brand’s first openly transgender model in 2019, is also in the campaign.

“One day I dreamed, I worked on it and today it is a dream come true. I can finally share my big secret. I am the first Victoria (sic) Secret model with Down syndrome!”, reads a post by Sofia on Instagram.

“Thank you to all of you who have always supported my projects. Thank you Victoria’s Secret for seeing a model in me… and making me a part of the Love Cloud Collection inclusion campaign. This is just the beginning!”

Jirau has been a model since 2019 and also has an online store called “Alavett”, a play on Spanish and English words for the phrase “I love it”. In February 2020, Jirau became one of the few models with Down syndrome to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week. She emphasizes through her social media accounts that her goal is to encourage others to pursue their dreams.

“I always say ‘Inside and out there are no limits’ to motivate people to overcome their self-imposed limitations,” she writes on her website.

The diverse new campaign is part of the brand’s ongoing attempts to reshape the image of sexy it has cultivated for decades. After criticism of the brand’s resistance to wider representation and the cancellation of its long-awaited televised fashion show, Victoria’s Secret signaled last summer that it would focus on creating lingerie for women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

“The Angels” has been retired – the longtime name of the brand’s supermodels – to make way for VS Collective, an ambassador program featuring seven women known for their advocacy work, including football player Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra. Jonah.

Some of the founding members of VS Collective are now featured in the Love Cloud campaign, including Bieber, Akech, Sampaio and plus-size model Paloma Elsesser.

Creative director Raúl Martinez said in a statement that the campaign is “an important moment in the evolution of the brand”.

“From the cast of incredible women who bring the collection to life, to the incredible inclusive spirit on set, this campaign is an important part of the new Victoria’s Secret standard we are creating,” he said.