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Since the start of its runway shows in 1995, Victoria’s Secret (VS) has been through the wringer when it comes to media backlash. While the first two decades of shows were successful because of their undeniable glamour and audience attention, the early 2010s brought heavy criticism to the brand.
Society began to understand the underlying harm in promoting such unattainable beauty standards and denounced VS for creating an image of female bodies that was purely unrealistic. In addition, unethical leadership left the media outraged, and that anger contributed to the fall of VS shows in 2019.
Following the surge of body-positivity movements in fashion and lingerie around 2014, brands like Aerie and Skims became popular as the antithesis of what society knew Victoria’s Secret to be: inclusive, realistic, and showcasing diverse bodies.
Under new management, VS decided to join the body-positive discourse, launching the Victoria’s Secret Collective in 2021. This ambassadorship program highlighted athletes, politicians, and a wide range of models. VS Collective served as the start of the VS rebrand, and in 2023, they announced their return to the runway.
In May 2024, VS made a major comeback and officially re-entered the cultural zeitgeist. In October of that same year, they ended their hiatus from fashion shows and hosted their 25th runway display.
Fans of the earlier shows, haters of the brand, and those who witnessed VS’s collapse years earlier had high expectations for what the show would bring: glamour, glitter, high-profile talent, and, of course, bodies of all shapes and sizes.
Early Victoria’s Secret runways were fantastical, larger-than-life, and arguably the pinnacle of fashion extravagance; VS’s values needed major changes, but people still yearned for the brand’s initial excellence.
While the 2024 return delivered VS’s promise of maintaining its new standard of diversity by integrating plus-sized and gender-inclusive models like Ashley Graham and Alex Consani, viewers were still left disappointed. They felt the show had been cheapened by seemingly boring outfits, smaller versions of the iconic “angel wings,” and a poorly designed runway. By the end of the show, the media made it clear that VS still had a lot of work to do.
Since their return in 2024, Victoria’s Secret made it a mission to bring back their annual shows. The 2025 runway was, for the most part, received much better than the previous year’s, with people commenting on the show’s improved production and glitzy fun.
However, 2025 was also the first year that VS introduced influencers into the show’s cast, giving the media a whole new bone to pick. People felt that including TikTokers in the mix cheapened the brand even more and contributed to the loss of the fantasy the show once had. While the internet spewed hate toward VS after the 2025 show, the brand persisted and invited influencers back to the Angel stage for 2026.
On Oct. 18, 2026, the 27th annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show debuted live on streaming services for audiences worldwide.
As a viewer of the show myself, I must say this year’s runway felt like the closest interpretation of the original shows: the wings were bigger, the blowouts were bouncier, and even the runway was sparklier. However, the presence of influencers was still a touch unsettling.
Popular TikToker Gabriella Moura (@gabimfmoura) was a specific source of unrest for critics. While Gabi, like most influencer models, walked in the PINK portion of the show, viewers were angry at the idea of influencer presences replacing “actual” trained models. Other influencers in the show included Quenlin Blackwell, Amelia Gray, and Lena Mantler.
Some say their anger came from the fact that including influencers makes the unattainable nature of being a VS angel less real. In past years, becoming an angel and “earning your wings” was a massive honor for models and a sign they were truly among the most important in the industry. Today, granting wings to influencers is seen as “undeserved” and as taking away from the show’s mystique and grandeur.
Others were upset because of a particularly scandalous casting choice: the exclusion of long-time model Romee Strijd from the show’s lineup. Strijd is one of the most well-respected models in the world, having walked for designers like Louis Vuitton and Prada, as well as Victoria’s Secret for five consecutive years (2014-2018). After taking a break from walking due to her newfound motherhood, Strijd decided to return to the VS runway in 2026, participating in a casting audition and extensive training.
As she explained in a two-part TikTok series, Strijd was left confused when she didn’t receive confirmation about whether she would be part of the show for a long time, only learning about her rejection about a week before the show on the 18th.
It was ultimately decided that she would not walk as she wasn’t what they were looking for this year. When this information was released, fans of the model were shocked and upset that such a successful and infamous supermodel was being overlooked, and they speculated that the inclusiveness of influencers may have contributed to her not being given a spot.
A particularly polarizing issue was Kylie Jenner donning the infamous Fantasy Bra for the 2026 show. The Fantasy Bra is an invention of early Victoria’s Secret shows: the most luxe bra in the entire collection; it’s worth millions of dollars and is typically worn by the most prestigious model in a show.
In the past, supermodels like Gisele Bündchen and Adriana Lima have been chosen to display this bra. Kylie Jenner, among other things, is an influencer. Her background as a non-model is why many viewers are upset with VS’s decision to let Jenner wear the bra, and it adds to the media’s argument that influencers are taking over such a highly regarded event.
Not everyone was upset about influencers in the VS cast: some viewers were delighted to see familiar faces on the runway. Cosmopolitan even said it supported PINK’s message of inclusivity and criticized those who claimed untrained models “ruined” the show.
While the internet remains divided on whether influencers belong on the runway, there’s no doubt VS will continue to bring attention to the annual event by casting influencers and public figures alongside models each year. If not for their “normal” bodies, influencers’ reputation as faces of modern media serves as a source of inclusivity for a brand that is constantly battling its own rather controversial past.
After all, aren’t the angels we know better than those we don’t?
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