Leandra Medeiros Cerezo, known professionally as Lea T (born 19 February 1981), is a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian-born,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

-raised

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

fashion model. She has been called the "

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

" of

Riccardo Tisci Riccardo Tisci (; born 1974) is an Italian fashion designer. He studied in Italy at the Design Istituto d’Arte Applicata in Cantù until the age of 17, and then graduated from London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1999. In ...

, chief creative officer of British luxury brand

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...

; her professional last name of "T" stands for Tisci. She is the face of American hair-care brand

Redken Redken is an American hair care brand owned by L'Oréal Group under the Professional Products division. History The company was founded in 1960 by Jheri Redding and Paula Kent, thus the name, "Red-ken." Redken pioneered the "Scientific Approach ...

. She is also a pop culture icon of

advocacy in the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community. She has stated that discrimination against LGBT people is an ongoing issue, and that society has more to do before it is resolved.

Early life

Assigned male at birth, T is the daughter of well-known former Brazilian football player

Toninho Cerezo Antônio Carlos Cerezo (born 21 April 1955), known as Toninho Cerezo (), is a Brazilian former footballer. Cerezo is commonly regarded as one of the finest Brazilian defensive midfielders of all time, most notably having played for his hometo ...

and was raised in Italy.

Career

Lea T was first discovered by model agent Piero Piazzi, who signed her aged 17, before her transition.

Givenchy Givenchy (, ) is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de ...

senior designer

then discovered her, asking her to assist him, before making her the face of Givenchy in late 2010. Her first runway show was for Alexandre Herchcovitch during

São Paulo Fashion Week The São Paulo Fashion Week is an clothing trade show held semi-annually in São Paulo. It is notable as "Latin America's pre-eminent fashion event" and it is of the emerging fashion weeks, outside the ''Big Four'' of New York Fashion Week, New Y ...

in January 2011. T has featured in campaigns for Givenchy, Benetton and

Philipp Plein Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: "Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews. Surname * Adolf Philipp (1864� ...

, shot by

Terry Richardson Terrence Richardson (born August 14, 1965) is an American fashion and portrait photographer. He has shot advertising campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Aldo, Supreme, Sisley, Tom Ford, and Yves Saint Laurent among others, and also done work for ma ...

. She has been featured in editorials in ''

Vogue Paris The French edition of ''Vogue'' magazine, formerly called ''Vogue Paris'', is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1920. History 1920–54 The French edition of ''Vogue'' was first issued on 15 June 1920, the first editor-in-chief ...

'', '' Numero'', ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

'' and ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

''. In 2011, she was also the cover star of two editions of the Spring/Summer 2011 edition of ''Love'', one as a solo model and another featuring her kissing

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

. T has also graced the covers of international editions of ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'', ''

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

'' and '' Glamour''. In 2013, she participated in the Italian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' on

Rai Uno Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

entitled ''

Ballando con le Stelle ''Ballando con le Stelle'' is the Italian version of the ''Strictly Come Dancing'' / ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchises. It was first broadcast on 8 January 2005 on TV station RAI 1. This show is aired in the prime time, usually of saturday ...

''. In February 2015, Lea T was chosen by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine one of the 12 women who changed Italian fashion, alongside names like

Miuccia Prada Miuccia Bianchi Prada (; born Maria Bianchi on 10 May 1949) is an Italian billionaire fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the head designer of Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu Miu. As of October 2021, ''Forbes'' estimated her n ...

Anna Dello Russo Anna Dello Russo (born 1962) is an Italian fashion journalist. She is a creative consultant and editor-at-large for ''Vogue Japan''. Early life Dello Russo was born in Bari in Southern Italy. She has a brother and a sister. Her father, a psyc ...

and Franca Sozzani. In 2014 she became the face of American hair-care brand

, thus making her the first openly transgender model to front a global cosmetics brand. Lea T became the first openly transgender person ever to participate in the opening ceremonies of an Olympics when she led the Brazilian team into the stadium on her bike during the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, leading out a 465-strong team contesting 29 sports, modern pentathlete

Yane Marques Yane Márcia Campos da Fonseca Marques (born January 7, 1984 in Afogados da Ingazeira) is a modern pentathlon athlete from Brazil. She became nationally known despite the obscurity of her sport in the country after winning a bronze medal at th ...

carrying the Auriverde flag into the stadium.

Personal life

In a January 2011 interview, T stated her intention to undergo

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

. The surgery occurred in March 2012, in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. In an interview to

Fantástico ''Fantástico'' (originally known as ''Fantástico: O Show da Vida'', Portuguese for ''Fantastic The Show of Life'') is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on Rede Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bo ...

, in January 2013, she described the surgery in a negative way but two weeks later she said that she " eltsatisfied with the results". T has stated that she considers herself to be

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

Award

She was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lea T Living people 1981 births Brazilian LGBT entertainers Brazilian emigrants to Italy Brazilian female models People from Belo Horizonte Transgender female models Bisexual women BBC 100 Women