A lot of viewers will watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show tonight looking for change. When the annual spectacle started in 1995, it made supermodels out of Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, and Candice Swanepoel—but in the process, the extravaganza further enforced a narrow standard of beauty. By the time the show was called off in 2019, the brand had faced criticism from several directions that its lingerie-filled runways projected a narrow vision of womanhood: one that was too white, too thin, and unwelcoming to LGBTQ+ models. (Offensive comments from former executives only enforced that perception.)
The 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show now promises new faces and a mission: to “reflect who we are today.” Size-inclusive fashion is a reported priority; so is identity, represented in a 2024 vanguard, including Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio. She began modeling for the off-shoot brand Pink in 2019—and, in the process, became the first transgender woman to appear in a Victoria’s Secret campaign. Five years later, she’s getting ready to make history again as one of the first transgender women to model in the label’s official fashion show alongside Alex Cosani.
