Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Role Fashion Model Name Lea T | Eye color Brown Hair color Brown Parents Toninho Cerezo | |
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Full Name Leandra Medeiros Cerezo Measurements 34-25-36 in / 86-63-91 cm Similar People Toninho Cerezo, Andreja Pejic, Isis King, Roberta Close, Jenna Talackova | ||
Leandra Medeiros Cerezo, known professionally as Lea T (born 17 April 1981), is a Brazilian-born, Italian-raised transgender fashion model. She is the muse of Riccardo Tisci, creative director of French luxury brand Givenchy; her professional last name of "T" stands for Tisci.
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She is the face of American hair-care brand Redken.
She is also a pop culture icon of transgender advocacy in the LGBT community. She has stated that discrimination against LGBT people is an ongoing issue, and that society has more to do before it is resolved.
Transexual model lea t makes first post op appearance in sao paulo
Biography
Lea T is the daughter of well-known former Brazilian football player Toninho Cerezo. She grew up in Italy. Lea T was assigned male at birth. In a January 2011 interview, the model stated her intentions to undergo sex reassignment surgery in March of that year.
The surgery actually occurred in March 2012, in Thailand. In an interview to Fantástico, in January 2013, she described the surgery in a negative way but two weeks later she said that she "[felt] satisfied with the results".
Lea T has stated that she has an attraction to both sexes.
Career
She was first discovered by Givenchy senior designer Riccardo Tisci and became the face of Givenchy in late 2010. Her first runway show was for Alexandre Herchcovitch during São Paulo Fashion Week in January 2011.
She has been featured in editorials in Vogue Paris, Hercules Magazine, Interview Magazine, Cover Magazine and Love Magazine. In 2011, she was also the cover star of two editions of the Spring/Summer 2011 edition of Love Magazine, one as the solo model and another featuring her kissing Kate Moss.
In 2013, she participated in the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars on Rai Uno entitled Ballando con le Stelle.
In February 2015, Lea T was chosen by Forbes magazine one of the 12 women who changed the Italian fashion, alongside names like Miuccia Prada, Anna Dello Russo and Franca Sozzani. In 2014 she became the face of American hair-care brand Redken, 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.