CULVER CITY, Calif.,
A West Coast debut
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has spent the last two years in New York. On Sunday, October 18, it relocated, staging its 2026 edition at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Los Angeles, and streaming on the brand's YouTube channel. Hello! counts it as the brand's third runway show since its comeback after a five-year hiatus.
The move was a deliberate escalation. Adam Selman, executive vice president and chief creative officer for Victoria's Secret and PINK, had said when the show was announced on September 29 that the change was driven by production scale. "I wanted this to be bigger and bolder than last year," he said. He gave the 2026 concept a name, "Fandemonium," meant to pull fans closer into the show itself, with nationwide open casting calls and weekly ticket giveaways via social media.
The performer lineup followed the same philosophy. Megan Moroney, Megan Thee Stallion, Tate McRae and KATSEYE were announced, an all-women slate that replaced last year's mix of Missy Elliott, Madison Beer, Karol G and TWICE. On the night, per Hello!, KATSEYE, Tate McRae and Megan Thee Stallion took the stage, with the latter performing her 2020 hit "Body" alongside models on the runway.
The venue itself is part of the story. Sony Pictures Studios is a working film lot, and shifting from New York to a Hollywood-adjacent backdrop signals the brand's interest in entertainment-scale spectacle. Whether the audience in the room or the one on the stream is the real target is a question the brand's marketing team will be answering for months.
The cast: veterans, comebacks and debuts
Casting was a conversation of generations. Bella Hadid opened the show in beaded floral wings and a lime green pareo. Adriana Lima closed it in a white look with intricate wings, marking her 21st year on the runway. Alessandra Ambrosio walked in her 20th Victoria's Secret show, and Candice Swanepoel and Joan Smalls were among the veterans, with Gigi Hadid, Ashley Graham and Paloma Elsesser as returning favourites.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley made her first appearance in over a decade. Natalia Bryant and Jordan Leftwich made their Victoria's Secret runway debuts, while Trinity Rodman debuted for the brand's Pink line. The newcomers were joined by Anok Yai, Liu Wen, Alex Consani, Yasmin Wijnaldum, Doutzen Kroes, Barbara Palvin, Elsa Hosk and Imaan Hammam, among others.
The surprise came from the Jenner family. Kylie Jenner unexpectedly walked in white feathered wings, with Timothée Chalamet and Kris Jenner cheering from the front row. Nicole Kidman also sat front row, with Vanessa Bryant beside her.
The looks: wings in every colour
The wings remained the show's visual signature, and the 2026 versions spanned the palette. Alex Consani wore gold wings over a black lace corset set. Joan Smalls wore curved cobalt wings with a draped top, and Gigi Hadid appeared in sequinned wings with fringe detailing. Imaan Hammam's were apple green and sequinned, Doutzen Kroes wore petal-styled wings, and Awar Odhiang's coiling feathered wings were bright blue.
Not everything depended on feathers. Mathilda Gvarliani walked in a pom-pom mini dress, Candice Swanepoel in a gold outfit and Barbara Palvin in a Barbie-pink look, one month after giving birth. On stage, Tate McRae wore a black sequin and crystal butterfly crop top with a matching skirt before changing into a red sheer-detailed look.
The pink carpet added its own moments. Megan Thee Stallion arrived in a plunge-neck gown inspired by a 2016 look worn by Naomi Campbell, styled by Wayman + Micah, and Lisa Rinna, attending with daughter Delilah Belle, wore a pink tutu dress, a cropped sculptural jacket and a feathered pillbox hat.
Taken together, the looks tell a consistent story: the brand is leaning into maximalism. Where a stripped-back approach has dominated much of fashion in recent seasons, the wings, sequins and feathers here are unapologetically theatrical, and the cast wore them with evident enthusiasm. Palvin's appearance one month after giving birth was among the details that drew attention, as did the generational mix of the closing and opening models.
Why this show landed differently
Representation was a running theme of the 2026 cast. Solange Omon, a Cameroonian model, won the first season of the brand's YouTube docuseries Angels Among Us, became a Victoria's Secret Angel and signed with IMG Models. Rawleen Varghese continued the South Asian representation that Neelam Gill began as the first British-Punjabi model to walk the show. Paloma Elsesser and Ashley Graham returned alongside the veterans.
The brand also brought back the Angel title five years after retiring it, a move WWD reported ahead of the show. Pairing legacy faces such as Lima and Ambrosio with newly cast Angels is the clearest sign of the strategy: honour the nostalgia, but make the cast look like its audience.
There was a social dimension too. Fans were invited into the process through casting and ticket drops, and the show streamed on YouTube and the brand's social channels, all of which feed the kind of online conversation the brand wants. Whether that conversation converts to sales is something only the brand can measure.
What this means for you
For shoppers, the show is better read as a mood board than a wardrobe guide. The runway's recurring ideas, saturated colour, sequins, feathers, and playful details such as pom-poms and butterfly motifs, are the things to watch for as the brand's holiday product arrives, though the brand has not said which looks will be sold.
For fashion watchers, the lesson is about format. A runway show can still command attention when it is built as a live, streamed and socially shared event, and when the casting tells a story people want to discuss. Victoria's Secret has now spent three shows rebuilding its identity in public.
If you missed it, the show streamed on the brand's YouTube channel, which is the place to look for the full runway.
