Who Is Sofia Jirau, First Victoria’s Secret Model With Down Syndrome?

In a campaign called Love Cloud Collection, luxury beauty brand Victoria’s Secret featured its first model with Down Syndrome, Sofia Jirau. The 24-year-old Puerto Rican woman is also a designer who said it’s a “dream come true” moment for her.

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Sofia Jirau, the 24-year-old Puerto Rican designer, has become the first model with Down Syndrome for the American lingerie and beauty brand Victoria’s Secret. “One day I dreamed of it, I worked on it and today it is a dream come true,” she said.

“I can finally tell you my big secret… I am the first Victoria's Secret model with Down syndrome! Thank you all for always supporting me in my projects,” she further wrote on her social media regarding the milestone. In her Instagram post, she also expressed her gratitude towards the luxury beauty brand for making her a part of its inclusion campaign named Love Cloud Collection. She wrote, “This is just the beginning, now it's formed! Inside and out there are no limits.”

Victoria’s Secret, the brand which was previously criticized for promoting unrealistic beauty standards, also responded to Jirau. “Thank you for being a part of our VS Family,” it wrote. The Love Cloud Collection is a first-of-its-kind campaign by the beauty brand which features 18 women with diverse backgrounds and indentities. Others included Adut Akech, Hailey Bieber, Paloma Elsesser, Imaan Hammam, actor Miriam Blanco, as well as Celilo Miles– a firefighter for the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, legacy supermodel Shalom Harlow, and Valentina Sampaio, who in 2019 became the first openly transgender model to work with Victoria’s Secret.

“The collection is modelled by eighteen dynamic women, reinforcing Victoria's Secret's commitment to welcoming and celebrating all women,” the brand said in a statement. “This new collection launch is another milestone in Victoria's Secret's new vision, focused on continuing to support women.”

Describing the collection as a “major moment in the brand's evolution”, Raúl Martinez, Victoria’s Secret’s head creative director, said, “From the cast of incredible women that 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.”

In a rebranding push, Victoria's Secret had hired seven new female brand ambassadors by June 2021. The list of delegates included people like Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio, American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and Indian actor Priyanka Chopra.

In a recent interview with People magazine, Jirau said, “When I was little, I looked myself in the mirror and said, 'I'm going to be a model and a businesswoman.”

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Jirau’s first noteworthy modeling opportunity was walking the ramp for the New York Fashion Week in 2020 for designer Marisa Santiago.

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