After a years-long hiatus and an uneven 2023 reboot, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returned to New York City this fall. It was a glossy, pink-lit attempt to recapture the fantasy that made it famous while proving that fantasy can evolve.
Held at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn and live-streamed globally on Oct. 15, the 2025 edition walked a fine line between nostalgia and transformation. There were wings. There were supermodels. But, there were also Olympians, athletes, and for the first time, a visibly pregnant woman opening the runway.
When Angel Jasmine Tookes stepped onto the runway in a shimmering, gold-netted gown, hand resting gently on her baby bump, the crowd audibly gasped.
According to People, Tookes became the first model to open a Victoria’s Secret show while pregnant. Her confident walk and deliberate pause to cradle her stomach turned what might have been a costume reveal into a statement on motherhood, strength and beauty.
InStyle called her gilded look a modern “Birth of Venus” moment that symbolized Victoria’s Secret’s ongoing reinvention from a brand that promotes the unattainable ideal to multidimensional womanhood.
One X user posted, “I LIVE and love that Jasmine opened the show. As she should.”
The show leaned heavily into expanding its image of beauty. WNBA champion Angel Reese became the first professional athlete to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway, commanding the stage with the same confidence and presence she brings to the court.
Olympic gymnast Suni Lee also made her debut, addressing online criticism afterward with grace.
“I want young girls to know they don’t have to fit into just one box,” she said in an interview with Marie Claire. “You can chase Olympic gold and still own your femininity.”
The show also welcomed back several of Victoria’s Secret’s original Angels, a move that instantly tapped into early-2000s nostalgia. Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge, Doutzen Kroes and Behati Prinsloo all returned to the runway, joining the new generation of models in what the brand dubbed its “Legacy” segment. Their cameos bridged the label’s glitter-heavy past with its ongoing rebrand, reminding viewers of the high-gloss supermodel era that defined the show for over a decade.
Performers Karol G, Madison Beer and TWICE turned the catwalk into a concert, underscoring the brand’s desire to merge runway and pop culture. The iconic “bombshell blowout” hair also made a sleek comeback.
Despite its glossy production, not all reactions were positive.
One Reddit user wrote, “I think this brand is in their flop era. The outfits and designs don’t stand out, the makeup and hair has been falling flat to me as well.” Another replied, “How come so many of these models are wearing bras that don’t actually fit them?! For a lingerie company, you’d think they could figure that out.”
Entertainment site SoapCentral called the overall show “quite disappointing,” noting that while fans praised the lineup, they found the pacing flat: “the performances were quite disappointing compared to the previous ones. Karol G carried.”
Bella Hadid’s visibly strained finale — carrying massive feathered wings despite a recent health recovery — sparked concern among fans who said she looked “in survival mode.”
So, the 2025 show revealed Victoria Secret is a company still figuring out what kind of power it wants to project.
Since canceling its televised spectacle in 2019 amid criticism of narrow beauty standards, Victoria’s Secret has tried to reposition itself by launching its “VS Collective,” highlighting activists and athletes, emphasizing empowerment over fantasy. More than anything, the 2025 show was an attempt to merge those identities: the glamour that built the brand and the authenticity that might save it.
Ultimately, the most memorable image wasn’t the costumes or celebrity cameos, it was Jasmine Tookes, standing mid-runway, one hand on her bump, the other catching the spotlight.
It was graceful. Real. And quietly revolutionary.
For a brand synonymous with airbrushed perfection, that single walk embodied change; the idea that beauty doesn’t pause for pregnancy. Tookes joined a lineage of only six models to ever walk pregnant in the show’s history, but hers was the first time it was celebrated openly.
The 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show didn’t deliver perfection, but it did deliver perspective. It proved that glamour and progress can share the same stage, even if the fit isn’t seamless yet. By blending icons with athletes, influencers and expectant mothers, the brand offered a vision of beauty that feels less like a fantasy and more like a reflection of the world watching. Whether this evolution marks a true rebirth or just another reinvention remains to be seen, but for one night in Brooklyn, the wings felt lighter, the runway wider and the definition of “Angel” a little more human.
