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24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria’s Secret’s First Model With Down Syndrome

I think we all agree that fashion designers have always chosen gorgeous, traditionally attractive, and able-bodied models to showcase their clothing on the catwalk and other less traditional fashion events. These models have set high standards to be more graceful than the average person, and have actively played a role in establishing a discrepancy between what models and actual real everyday people look like.

However, as society, we progress further and further each year, and it wasn’t a surprise when recently a lot of big brands and modeling agencies started introducing a lot of differently abled people as part of their brand, giving more realistic representation on runways and magazine covers.

Today we’d like to share with you the story of 24-year-old Puerto Rican model Sofía Jirau, who has Down syndrome.

We have also shared Sofía’s first story featuring her debut at New York Fashion Week way back in 2020, and if you’d like to find out more about it, you can find it by clicking here.

More info: Instagram | sofiajirau.com | Facebook

Meet Sofía Jirau, a 24-year-old Puerto Rican model with Down syndrome

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

Sofía recently went viral on social media after a certain post she made

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

She happily announced her newest accomplishment of becoming Victoria’s Secret’s first model with Down syndrome

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

The brand reached out to her via a call as they offered her an opportunity to work with them

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

Jirau was very happy with the news and agreed instantly

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

In a recent interview she said, “I want to tell the whole world that people with my condition, Down syndrome, inside and out, we have no limits”

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sofía Jirau (@sofiajirau)

Image credits: sofiajirau

The new role became her biggest accomplishment after her debut at New York Fashion Week back in 2020

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sofía Jirau (@sofiajirau)

Image credits: sofiajirau

After getting the job, Sofía flew all the way to Los Angeles for her campaign photoshoot for the “Love Cloud” bra collection

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sofía Jirau (@sofiajirau)

Image credits: sofiajirau

With all of that being said, the model hopes her story can inspire more people to push through life and make their dreams come true

24-Year-Old Model Accomplishes Her Dream Of Becoming Victoria's Secret's First Model With Down Syndrome

Image credits: sofiajirau

160Kviews

Fascinated by music, movies and sitcoms, I'm passionate about social media and can't live without the internet, especially for all the cute dog and cat pictures out there. I wish the day had about 40 hours to be able to do everything I want.

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Hey there, Pandas! My name is Diana (though some prefer to refer to me as Diane, Deanna, and even Liana sometimes), and I am a Community Post Moderator Lead for Bored Panda. As my position title states, I am one of the people (employed Pandas for bamboo) over here who work with the community side of things on this website to ensure all is well, and while at that, I also help various creators and artists get recognition for the incredible work they do by connecting them to a large worldwide audience. Other than that, outside of work, you can find me brewing a nice cup of coffee, making a pizza from scratch, or baking brownies. I also love traveling, concerts, and cats (heavy on that, because I am a cat mom).

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What do you think ?

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Not Proud British 2 years ago

That's really good however I wonder if they would have done the same if the woman in question had a more severe form of Downs? At first glance, you would not know she had Downs at all. They chose someone who has a beautiful body, long glossy hair and whose features only have a hint of Downs syndrome and then they congratulate themselves on being open minded. It's great for her and she deserves the adulation, but they do not I'm afraid. It's a token gesture from them, like having a beautiful woman in a wheelchair. Most people with Downs don't look like her.

42points

rumade 2 years ago

That was my thought exactly. She doesn't look like a typical person with Downs syndrome and isn't very representative of them. But then again, other models aren't very representative of the general population either, even the "plus size" ones

29points

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Maisy Bell 2 years ago

WHAT it's a token gesture, is she not downs syndrome enough for you? That's ridiculous

2points

Niall Mac Iomera 2 years ago

Also, would they pick a woman who looks exactly like this but doesn't have down syndrome?

2points

Hugo Raible 2 years ago

Yes, it smells a lot like woke washing. I thought the same about the rather mild form of Downs, her body which complies with traditional beauty standards, etc. Happy for her that she made it, but it looks a lot like a publicity stunt and this will be forgotten next year.

2points

Teal kalt 2 years ago

Ok guys, an opportunity to educate yourselves. people in the Down Syndrome community prefer person-first language and we do not like the term “Downs”. Secondly, she does absolutely look like she has DS. People with DS look like their family members with some characteristics of Down Syndrome (I.e. the almond shaped eyes, brushfield spots in the eyes, shorter legs/arms, shorter stature overall, a missing nasal bone, etc.) not all people with DS have all of these characteristics. This does not mean it’s a less “severe” form of DS, because there is no such thing. You either have an extra 21st chromosome or you do not. Abilities (physical and cognitive) range just as much in the DS population as they do in the neurotypical population. We are incredibly proud of Sofia and the representation she brings to the DS community.

1point

Jo Choto 2 years ago

I'm so glad that this determined and beautiful young woman has been able to live her dream by becoming a VS model. Me, I would prefer that we stop idealizing and sexualizing women altogether. But it seems that this is a really big landmark for the disabled community who struggle with being desexualized and infantilized a lot. A lot of them are really really happy to have a disabled person being seen as an example of sexual beauty.

41points