Every year, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show serves as a pop culture moment where audiences around the world come together to celebrate fashion and femininity. In recent years, the brand has made efforts to be more diverse and body-inclusive, working to move away from its previously exclusionary image. As a result, women across a wider range of identities and body types have been able to celebrate feeling confident and free in their skin.
In line with those efforts, it’s hard to overlook the amount of Black talent featured in the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Fashion mogul Law Roach is set to host the pre-show, while rap icon Missy Elliott will be among the night’s performers. A number of notable Black models are also expected to earn their first set of wings this year.
Quenlin Blackwell
Quenlin Blackwell is without a doubt the internet’s favorite content creator. As a queer, Black woman, her humor is one of one, and she’s seamlessly proven you can be both funny and sexy all at once. She’s built herself a massive platform as an influencer, YouTuber, comedian, model, and actress, posting videos regularly since the age of nine. However, once she blew up on Vine, it was stardom overnight, leading to securing bags as massive as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
“Y’all… I am going to be a Victoria’s Secret angel. I’m still in shock,” she wrote via social media, flabbergasted at the unexpected opportunity. Coming from the digital space, her inclusion signals that Victoria’s Secret is recognizing the power of Gen Z women and internet-born celebrities more directly. The inclusion of influencers like Blackwell also acknowledges that beauty is only enhanced when you’re just as vibrant from within, too.
Angel Reese
John Nacion/WWD via Getty Images
Cementing a moment in history, Angel Reese will also serve as one of this year’s winged models. One of the most recognized figures in the WNBA, her inclusion marks the first professional athlete to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway. “Stepping into a dream: From Angel to a Victoria Secret Angel,” the 23-year-old basketball player wrote via Instagram post. “I’ll be walking the Victoria’s Secret 2025 runway show for the first time, and it feels like destiny. Wings on, heels ready…Catch me on the runway.”
Shattering the boundaries between Black athletes and Black models, Reese’s athleticism, body type, and style challenge outdated fashion norms and upend traditional expectations of what a “fashion model” is. This is doing monumental work in expanding the representation of strength, curves, and Black beauty.
Precious Lee
Bringing some very necessary curve to the runway, plus-size model Precious Lee has also earned her very first set of wings this year. She has been a very loud inclusivity advocate, using her platform as a model to spread awareness about race and size diversity, challenging industry norms and being vocal about what true representation means. She’s stunned at the Met Gala and major campaigns across the globe, and there’s most certainly no stopping her now. Her inclusion in a show as major as Victoria’s Secret proves that very antiquated ideologies are finally getting shattered.
To celebrate these awe-striking women and even more Black bodies on the runway, including Anok Yai, tune into the VS Fashion Show on October 15th at 7PM ET.
The post The New Black Angels in This Year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show appeared first on 21Ninety.
