Never in the history of fashion has a young woman with Down syndrome, in other words trisomy 21, managed to find such a place for herself: Sofia Jirau, 24, is now the official muse of a great lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret. A first that is the result of several years of work, contacts, and the application of a very specific motto, the one she repeats to everyone she meets: “no limits”, no limits, never, nowhere. On Instagram, Sofia Jirau was pleased to have pushed back one more. In support, a photo of her, in black and white, posing proud and straight with the new collection of underwear from the American brand.
An achievement hailed by tens of thousands of congratulatory messages, from other models, of course, but also from those who fight to make themselves visible on TV, in the cinema, at work, and everywhere in life, trisomy 21. This is what his parents did, from his birth. They first placed her in a special school, and then when she was six years old, they enrolled her in an ordinary primary school in Puerto Rico so that she could integrate a traditional course. And it worked, Sofia followed, made friends, blossomed, and around ten years old, she knew what she wanted to do later: “JI looked at myself in the mirror, and I said to myself, I will be a top model and a businesswoman.‘”
To achieve this, she first graduated from high school at 19, then she was spotted by fashion photographer Wanda Beauchamp, she posed for several catalogs, learned to walk on a catwalk, and finally participated in her first show at New York Fashion Week in 2020 for designer Marisa Santiago. The event had a worldwide impact, it earned him a place in the magazine vogueand also allowed him to create his clothing brand, Alavett, thus realizing his second dream, that of running a business.
Sofia Jirau is a glass ceiling breaker, an inspiration for people with trisomy 21, 60,000 in France alone, but above all she challenges those who have fixed ideas about this genetic anomaly. “My message to allshe told NBC, is that we, carriers of Down syndrome, we can work hard, get a job and even create businesses, tell yourself that there is nothing we can not do, because we dream and we we have no limits.“