Sofía Jirau just made history in the fashion world. At 24 years old, the model from Puerto Rico became the first person with Down syndrome to appear in a Victoria’s Secret campaign. She shared the news herself, in one simple Instagram post, and it quickly traveled across major news outlets nationwide.
A Model From the Start
Jirau was born in Puerto Rico on March 26, 1997. Modeling wasn’t a passing interest for her; she’d wanted it since she was small. Her first real shot at a runway came at age 16, when she walked in a show for Puerto Rican designer Wanda Beauchamp.
That single appearance caught the attention of other designers, though Jirau waited a few more years before turning modeling into a full-time pursuit.
In 2018, she also began working as an “Experience Ambassador” at INprende, a Puerto Rican company that helps people build businesses and job skills regardless of their background or ability. The role gave her real professional experience outside of modeling, and it’s a job she’s held onto ever since.
Then came March 26, 2019, her 23rd birthday. That day, she officially launched her modeling career. She didn’t stop there. That same year, she opened Alavett, her own online store.
The name is a playful spelling of her favorite phrase, “I love it,” and the shop sells everything from t-shirts and wallets to mugs and phone cases, each stamped with her signature heart doodle.
On her official website, she describes herself simply as a model, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, and Alavett has grown alongside her modeling work rather than sitting in its shadow.
Landing on the Runway in New York
Jirau’s next big step came in February 2020. She traveled to New York Fashion Week and walked for designer Marisa Santiago, becoming one of the few working models with Down syndrome to ever take that stage.
On her own website, she later called herself “one of the few models with Down syndrome” to reach that runway, a milestone she said she was proud of.
The trip wasn’t just about one show. Coverage of her debut spread well beyond Puerto Rico, picked up by outlets such as Vogue Mexico, Hola!, and Univision, all of which framed her runway walk as a milestone for representation in fashion.
She used the growing attention to speak directly to her audience online, telling followers that modeling was something she had dreamed about since childhood and that New York was only the start of bigger plans, including work overseas.
The Call From Victoria’s Secret
Two years later, in February 2022, that bigger plan arrived. Victoria’s Secret asked Jirau to join its new Love Cloud Collection, an underwear line built around the idea that comfort and beauty come in every body type.
On Valentine’s Day, she posted a black-and-white photo of herself wearing one of the brand’s bras and shared her news with the world. “I can finally tell you my big secret,” she wrote, before revealing that she was the brand’s first model with Down syndrome.
She wasn’t announcing this alone. Seventeen other women joined her in the campaign, together representing one of the widest ranges of backgrounds a Victoria’s Secret lineup had ever featured. The brand’s head creative director, Raúl Martinez, called the launch a defining point for the company: “Love Cloud Collection is a major moment in the brand’s evolution.”
Jirau also holds another distinction tied to her home island. She is only the second Puerto Rican model to star in a Victoria’s Secret campaign, following supermodel Joan Smalls.
A Campaign Built on Difference
The rest of the Love Cloud cast reflected that same push toward variety. Model Hailey Bieber appeared alongside Adut Akech and Paloma Elsesser. Valentina Sampaio, who became the brand’s first openly transgender model back in 2019, was part of the lineup too.
So was Celilo Miles, a wildland firefighter from the Nez Perce Tribe, and Sylvia Buckler, an accessories designer who posed while holding her pregnant belly.
The rollout built on changes Victoria’s Secret had already started making. The year before, the company retired its long-running “Angel” branding and introduced the VS Collective, a group of ambassadors meant to represent a broader range of women.
Founding members of that group, including soccer star Megan Rapinoe and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, had already begun reshaping how the brand presented itself before Love Cloud ever launched.
The new collection went on sale in stores and online that same week, and it marked the first full collection released under Martinez’s direction since he stepped into the creative director role that January.
For Jirau, the campaign carried a message that reached beyond fashion. She told NBC News that people with Down syndrome deserve the same chances as everyone else: “People who have Down syndrome like me are capable of getting a job.”
Down syndrome happens when someone is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, which changes how the brain and body develop over time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts thousands of such births in the United States each year, and notes that most people living with the condition today lead long, healthy lives with the right medical care and support.
That wasn’t always the outlook. Back in 1960, life expectancy for someone with Down syndrome averaged around ten years; today, thanks to decades of medical progress, people with the condition routinely live into adulthood and beyond. Jirau’s own career stands as a public, visible example of just how far that progress has carried the community.
What Comes Next
The milestone didn’t slow Jirau down. Weeks after the Love Cloud news broke, she flew to Europe, both to keep working and to celebrate her 25th birthday. Speaking with the outlet Hola about her travel plans, she said, “I’m going to Paris and Italy.”
Since then, Jirau has kept building on both sides of her career. She launched her own podcast, Sofía Jirau, The Podcast, describing it on her website as a space without limits where she shares her experiences, her dreams, and her everyday lifestyle directly with fans, rather than through a designer’s runway or a brand’s press release.
She has continued growing Alavett and still works at INprende, splitting her time between the runway and the office in a way few models before her ever had the chance to do.
Through all of it, her message hasn’t changed. People with Down syndrome can work, build businesses, and chase the same dreams as anyone else. That was the entire point of the caption that started it all: that inside and out, there’s no such thing as a limit on what she, or anyone like her, can accomplish.
Sources: