Tonight's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will have many viewers looking for a change: the annual spectacle has featured Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen, and Candice Swanepaul as supermodels since 1995, but further enforcing narrow standards of beauty in the process; by the time the show was canceled in 2019, the brand had faced criticism from many quarters that the lingerie-filled runway reflected a narrow view of the female form. (The 2024 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show promises new faces and a mission to “reflect who we are today.” The same is true of the identity represented by the 2024 avant-garde, which includes Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio. She began modeling for the Victoria's Secret-derived brand Pink in 2019, becoming the first transgender woman to appear in a Victoria's Secret campaign in the process. Five years later, she and Alex Kozani are about to make history again as one of the first transgender women to model in an official Victoria's Secret fashion show.

Sampaio was glowing with excitement when I met with her via FaceTime a few days before the show. Being featured in Victoria's Secret for the first time is “a huge victory for trans people,” she said. Being a trans woman often means facing closed doors in people's minds. So working with Victoria's Secret meant everything to me.”

As she grew up, Sampaio, like many other model apprentices, fantasized about donning angel wings and walking the glittering catwalk. She faced discrimination at the start of her career in 2014, but persevered: she walked the runway for the first time at Sao Paulo Fashion Week in 2016, became a L'Oreal ambassador, and eventually from Vogue Paris (2017) to Sports Illustrated (2020), She made history as the first transgender woman to grace the covers of major magazines. Victoria's Secret was still exclusive when her career began and closed its runways by the time she was ready to move on in earnest. Still, Sampaio dreamed of one day walking for the brand: “Even if people told me it was impossible, I knew in my heart I would definitely be a part of it,” she says.

This journey has made her feel even more fortunate to walk the brand's revamped runway. The brand's iconic bras, underwear, robes, and pajamas are more than just clothes to Sampaio; they are symbols. As a child, lingerie inspired me as a symbol of femininity, and it still does. Wearing lingerie sometimes reminds me of the path I have overcome to be where I am today."

Sampaio's lingerie is also a symbol of her own femininity.

Sampaio did not want to reveal too much about her debut look at the fashion show ahead of time, but said it would involve a bra, panties, and “a lot of bling.” On the runway, it was a matching black set with a glittery net overlay and a giant bow on the back.

Before the show, Sampaio was joined by Jasmine Tookes, Gigi Hadid, and Ashley Graham, who wore her hair in voluminous curls and the same baby pink striped robe and underwire bra. The coloring and presentation, typical of Victoria's Secret, was reminiscent of the early shows of the 1990s.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will be streamed on Amazon Prime and Victoria's Secret's YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels on October 15 at 7 p.m. ET.