Valentina Sampaio Becomes First Transgender Model To Cover Vogue Paris March 2017

Transgender model Valentina Sampaio makes her debut as the first-ever Vogue Paris cover person. The decision by editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt was not a quiet one. "Transgender beauty: How they're shaking up the world," broadcasts the cover in a bold white font. The March issue is only topped by September in circulation, so Vogue Paris walked boldly into the topic of transgender influence in fashion and style and also as a contemporary issue among human rights activists. 

“This cover is about the importance of [human] rights, and that we still need to make progress on an awful lot of stuff,” French Vogue editor in chief Emmanuelle Alt told American Vogue. "“We are living in a world at the moment, what is happening right now, we are stepping back,” she says. “Instead of being in a constant evolution, which is what should happen, human rights . . . they’re not going in a good direction. This cover is about the importance of those rights, and that we still need to make progress on an awful lot of stuff.”

Paris worries that France is having its own Brexit  moment. French lawyer and politician Marine Le Pen is leading France's right-wing Nationalist party in the upcoming elections. Note that while Le Pen's father was an ardent nationalist, she is more circumspect on several social issues. On the topic of immigration, however, she joins the growing worldwide anti-immigration stance. Ms Le Pen argues French citizenship should be "either inherited or merited" writes BBC News. As for illegal immigrants, they "have no reason to stay in France, these people broke the law the minute they set foot on French soil".

The accompanying Vogue Paris fashion story features the Brazilian-born Sampaio modeling the latest spring collections, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. / Makeup by Isamaya Ffrench; hair by Paul Hanlon.