Sofia Jirau becomes the first model with Down syndrome to feature for Victoria’s Secret

Victoria’s Secret wants to diversify: with Sofía Jirau from Puerto Rico, a model with Down syndrome presents the famous brand’s underwear for the first time.

The 24-year-old Puerto Rican celebrated the achievement on Valentine’s Day, after the debut of the “Love Cloud” collection, an underwear line. You can find the full range of Victoria’s Secret products here. 

To work as a model, then also for the big fashion brand Victoria’s Secret – this is the big dream of many. This is only realized by very few people.

The ‘ideal’ dimensions are generally demanded in the industry, and anything that does not correspond to the current ideal of beauty is unlikely to be perceived as a potential model.

Sofía Jirau has just made history as the first Victoria’s Secret model diagnosed with Down syndrome, after joining 17 other women in the launch of the brand’s new campaign.

The model joins the lingerie and clothing giant at a crucial time as the company tries to reshape itself to appeal to all women.

She is also the second Puerto Rican model to participate in Victoria’s Secret campaign, sharing the spotlight with supermodel Joan Smalls.

In 2019, Sofía Jirau launched the online store ‘Alavett‘, which refers to her way of expressing “I love it”, marking the beginning of the young woman’s career on the local catwalks.

In October of last year, Sofía was the protagonist of the campaign “No Limits”, whose objective was to raise awareness during Down syndrome awareness month and make the challenges visible, but also to remember and celebrate all its qualities.

A year later, she fulfilled her dream of debuting at New York Fashion Week, “for which [she is] proud”, as she was “one of the few models with Down syndrome who managed to participate in the important fashion event”, according to the organization’s website.

Sofía walked the runway at New York Fashion Week, showing off her talent for designer Marisa Santiago. Now, this opportunity at what is America’s biggest lingerie brand is a new milestone in her career.

“One day I dreamed about it, I worked on it and today it’s a dream come true. I can finally share my big secret… I am the first Victoria’s Secret model with Down syndrome!”

she wrote on her Instagram account, which already has over 200,000 followers.

Jirau also launched a campaign in Spanish called “Sin Limites” to demonstrate the ability of people with Down syndrome to achieve their goals despite their condition.

In becoming the first model with Down syndrome to walk for Victoria’s Secret, Sofia says she feels she has “conquered the world”, but her goals don’t stop there.

“The next step is to meet Jennifer Lopez and go to Hollywood to be a good actress”, says the young woman who describes herself as “entrepreneur, businesswoman, worker, fighter”.

Sofía Jirau is still relatively new to the modeling world: as she writes on her own website, she only debuted at New York Fashion Week two years ago.

Since then, it has continued to rise for her. With this, she wants to encourage:

“The most important thing to achieve your dreams is for me, others to show the world that there are no limits and to inspire them to pursue their own dreams pursue.“

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Danny Sanders & team The Inclusion Studio