Victoria’s Secret leaned into some of its most recognizable imagery at its 2026 fashion show on Sunday, bringing back the Angels, elaborate wings and the Fantasy Bra while revisiting glamorous lingerie and slip dresses. Kylie Jenner made her Victoria’s Secret runway debut wearing the diamond-covered Fantasy Bra, which returned after an eight-year absence. The revival comes five years after Victoria’s Secret retired its Angels amid a sweeping effort to reposition the brand, but creative chief Adam Selman insists the company is not simply looking backward.
Newsweek reached out to Victoria's Secret via email for comment on Monday. For Simeon Siegel, retail analyst and senior managing director at Guggenheim Securities, the bigger challenge has been restoring enthusiasm around a brand that customers continued to shop even as its cultural standing suffered. Victoria’s Secret reported $1.611 billion in second-quarter net sales, up 10 percent year-over-year, and subsequently raised its full-year sales forecast.
Victoria’s Secret retired its Angels in 2021 and launched the VS Collective as it sought to modernize following criticism of its narrow beauty ideals and corporate culture. Then-CEO Martin Waters said that the company had been “too slow to respond” to a changing world and needed to shift from focusing on “what men want” toward “what women want,” The New York Times reported at the time. Five years after Victoria’s Secret dramatically changed course, some of its most famous symbols were unmistakably present in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The show marked the event’s first return to the city in 19 years and brought together both familiar faces and newcomers. Longtime Victoria’s Secret stars Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Candice Swanepoel took part, while Rosie Huntington-Whiteley returned for her first Victoria’s Secret appearance in 16 years. Elsa Hosk was back on its runway after an absence of almost a decade.
Familiar touches from the show’s past also returned, including elaborate wings, glamorous lingerie and vintage-inspired slip dresses. The brand reissued the dresses after learning that customers collected older versions. Yet Selman rejected the idea that this was simply a nostalgia exercise.
Instead, he described the challenge as balancing two eras: “We’re trying to thread the needle between the old and the new.” That approach included Solange Omon, who won the brand's YouTube casting series "Angels Among Us." The nationwide search invited women to compete for a place in the fashion show and a contract with IMG Models. Perhaps the clearest indication that Victoria’s Secret is willing to reclaim its old theatricality came with the Fantasy Bra. The diamond-covered piece returned after eight years, with Jenner making a surprise runway appearance to model it as boyfriend Timothée Chalamet and mother Kris Jenner watched from the front row.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
