Tales Soares walks the runway during the Ocksa fashion show on April 27. (Schneider/Getty Images)

Tales Soares, a model and vocal supporter of LGBT+ rights, has died after falling ill on a catwalk in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The 26-year-old, also known as Tales Cotta, collapsed while appearing in a show for the clothing brand Oksa on Sunday, April 27.

He was attended to by a medical team on the catwalk before being taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Sao Paolo Fashion Week organisers confirmed the news on Twitter.

“We’re sorry for his loss and send our deepest condolences to Tales’ family,” a statement said, according to the BBC.

They added that they were providing “all necessary assistance at this sad time.”

Tales Soares cause of death unknown

Soares’ cause of death is as yet unknown, but doctors reportedly suspect he “might have had a congenital problem.”

“They believe he died on the catwalk,” Soares’ agent, Rogério Campaneli, told the FocusOn News agency.

“Everything happened so suddenly and unexpectedly,” he added.

“Everything happened so suddenly and unexpectedly.” —Rogério Campaneli, friend of Tales Soares

“It was all so fast: he kissed a friend behind the scenes who was following him, walked out confidently as usual, then suddenly stumbled, lost his footing and fell.”

Soares’ sister Gabrielle Gomes, who spoke to the model in a video call shortly before his death, told Brazilian news outlet G1 that he was “very healthy and exercised every day.”

On his Instagram page, the model described himself as a “veggie” and a physical education graduate.

Tales Soares supported LGBT+ rights on social media

Fellow model and close friend Rosa Fernanda paid her own tribute to Soares on Instagram.

“In such a short time we learn so much from each other, thank you for everything. I love you forever, in my heart,” she wrote in an Instagram story on Sunday.

“You will always be in my heart,” she added in a post on Monday. “You took a little piece of each of us, but as always, generous, left a little of yours.”

On his own social media pages, Soares often spoke about LGBT+ rights.

In June 2018, on Facebook, he shared a photograph of himself overlaid with the rainbow flag and the word “orgulhe-se,” Portuguese for “take pride.”

At around the same time he spoke to Harper’s Bazaar Brazil about taking part in a Casa de Criadores (House of Creators) event, which he said was special because it “visibility to the LGBT+ movement”.