Following years of declining popularity and lackluster sales, Victoria’s Secret brought back their once-popular runway fashion show, this time including two male models who identify as transgender.
The annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show started in 1995. It featured supermodels, or “Angels,” strutting the runway in lingerie and other high-end styles from the brand.
The show was put on hiatus in 2019 following public backlash over body image expectations and the general content of the show. Many critics on the Left complained it wasn’t inclusive of body types or race, and accused the show of lacking LGBTQ representation.
In the following years, the brand moved away from “Angels” and instead made ambassadors out of “accomplished women,” such as soccer star and leftist activist Megan Rapinoe, actress Priyanka Chopra, and trans-identifying model Valentina Sampaio.
The fashion show returned to Brooklyn on Tuesday night. This time, the runway lineup included two trans-identified models in skimpy lingerie.
Alex Consani and Sampaio participated in the show, while another trans-identifying male model for the brand, Emira D’Spain, sat in the front row.
Two men at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. pic.twitter.com/zbrWuvLhKn
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) October 16, 2024
Other models who walked the runway included industry veterans Kate Moss, Alessandra Ambrosio, Tyra Banks, Adriana Lima, and sisters Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid.
A representative from Victoria’s Secret told People in an earlier statement that this year’s presentation aimed to “deliver precisely what our customers have been asking for—the glamour, runway, fashion, fun, wings, entertainment—all through a powerful, modern lens reflecting who we are today.”
Sampaio told Marie Claire that being included in the show was a “major victory for trans people.”
“Being a trans woman often means facing a closed door to people’s hearts and minds. So working with Victoria’s Secret meant everything to me,” the Victoria’s Secret ambassador said.
“Lingerie carries a deeply personal meaning for me—as a child, it represented an inspirational symbol of femininity, and it still does,” Sampaio added. “Sometimes when I put it on, it reminds me of my journey, of all I had to overcome to be who and where I am today.”
Social media reactions to the revived Victoria’s Secret fashion show were largely negative.
“So sick of this crap,” one social media user wrote in response to the inclusion of trans-identifying male models.
“Leftist women just watching while everything they worked for is taken away by men in skirts,” another wrote.
“Now it’s a drag show,” a third commenter posted.
