Model Lea T at the Milan Womenswear Fashion Week
Model Lea T at the Milan Womenswear Fashion Week Getty

The Brazilian supermodel Lea T has landed a contract with haircare brand Redken, and will appear in the print and digital campaigns set for a January 2015 release.

"We're all people with our own personality, our own beauty, our own life," said Lea T in a statement. "I love working with Redken because they appreciate all kinds of beauty. They believe in the individuality of the person, and I think that's really important."

Lea T will be the new face of Redken's Chromatics hair-colour line. "It's an honor and a responsibility at the same time," she says. "I know many women will look at my face and think about [the brand]."

Her modelling debut was for Givenchy's autumn/winter 2014 campaign and the transgender model has also appeared naked in a portrait for French Vogue. She was the cover for LOVE magazine, where she was photographed kissing Kate Moss on the mouth.

LOVE editor Katie Grand revealed how she first met the 28-year-old Brazilian model in a Telegraph interview: "I was by the pool at the Copacabana Palace Hotel when I saw her. At first I didn't notice her gender, just that she was wearing Givenchy couture and looked amazing!"

Lea T is the daughter of Brazilian football player Toninho Cerezo and identified as male when she was born. In a January 2011 interview, the transsexual model stated her intentions to undergo sex reassignment surgery in March 2012. She gave an interview on Oprah saying: "Of course physically, this operation is a big operation...But at the same time, I think it's mental too. To think like, 'Wow, I cut part of my body.'"

The model has supported anti-bullying campaigns and is a transgender advocate for the LGBT Community. As she said in a Guardian interview: "We transsexuals are born and grow up alone. After the operation we are born again, but once again alone. And we die alone. It is the price we pay."

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