Lea T made history this week when Redken announced that she would front the haircare brand, reportedly making her the first transgender model to become the face of a global cosmetics brand.
“I love working with Redken because they appreciate all kinds of beauty,” Lea T reportedly stated. “They believe in the individuality of the person, and I think that’s really important.”
Lea T was reportedly discovered in 2010 by Givenchy artistic director Riccardo Tisci —having since been called the world’s first transgender supermodel by Oprah.
While she is breaking new ground with her Redken role, Lea T isn’t alone within the transgender model community. In July, supermodel Andreja Pejic came out as transgender and later launched a campaign encouraging others to come out and live authentically. Carmen Carrera also came out as transgender after rising to fame as a contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
