Last night, the fashion show of all fashion shows, the most extravagant catwalk aired: the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. This event has become a favorite of fashion lovers and the brand’s loyal fan base. Set in Shanghai, the show featured 55 of the world’s top models (aka Angels) in 87 different outfits presented into six different segments: “Nomadic Adventure,” “Porcelain Angel,” “A Winter’s Tale,” “Millennial Nation,” “Goddess,” and “Punk Angel.” The Angels strutted their stuff on the most famous catwalk in the world to the music of Harry Styles, Leslie Odom Jr., Miguel, and Jane Zhang.
As this event was the most anticipated one of the year there was a big pre-show hype and plenty to cover by the media: from models and performers being denied access into China to Karlie Kloss returning to the catwalk and Alessandra Ambrosio hanging up her Angel wings after the show – these were the hot topics leading up to the show.
But, the biggest news story that came out of the show was none of the above – it was the fall of Chinese model Ming Xi during the “A Winter’s Tale” segment of the show. Her stiletto got caught on her embellished sheer white cape causing her to lose footing and tumble forward. Fellow model Gizele Oliveria was walking behind her and kindly helped her up and applauded when Xi continued walking. All this occurred while Leslie Odom Jr. was singing a cover of Sara Bareilles’s Winter Song.
I was quite surprised to see Xi’s fall being aired as part of the show. The show is always filmed twice in case mishaps like that happen so it can be edited it out for the final version to maintain the image of perfection and presented to the public with gorgeous, perfect and flawless Victoria’s Secret Angels. The producers made another surprising precedent by also airing Ming Xi crying backstage after she finished her walk, a part of the broadcast that sparked a ton of controversy on social media.
I’m glad they aired this.
Throughout the entire fall ordeal, Xi maintained a giddy smile. Not for one second during her walk on the runway did she lose her composure or stop smiling. After the fall she calmly straightened her gigantic floral headpiece, graciously got up and effortlessly finished the rest of her walk. CBS even tweeted a video of the fall with the caption “It’s not about how we fall, it’s about how we get up.” Add to it Victoria’s Secret own tweet “Angels always get back up…” and this is exactly what I find as a main take-out from this event: get up and carry on!
Let me add my two cents now: the way Xi carried herself is the way we should always carry ourselves! Things won’t be always perfect and missteps can happen to all of us when we least expect it and more often than not it won’t be a just a physical fall. The fall itself won’t be what people will remember or talk about – what will be remembered and talked about is the way we got up and carried on. No matter how hard or embarrassing or bad a fall may be, get back up and continue like Ming Xi: with a smile.