Give PINK the Influencers. Give Victoria’s Secret Back the Angels.
The 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was a step up from recent years. The wings were prominent, the Fantasy Bra returned, and familiar faces like Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Candice Swanepoel, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley brought back the history viewers had been missing.
But the show still missed a crucial opportunity. PINK and Victoria’s Secret serve entirely different purposes and audiences; they are not the same. Instead of fully embracing those distinct identities, the show hesitated and failed to push either side to its full potential.
PINK leadership described their segment as a halftime show built around athletes, creators, and culture. That concept is brilliant. PINK should be the undisputed home for TikTok trends, influencers, and viral pop-culture moments. The KATSEYE segment was cute, but it needed to go much further.
The wardrobe choices for the PINK models, for instance, left a lot on the table. While the brand is fundamentally rooted in a playful, campus aesthetic, the styling could have been significantly more elevated. You can capture that youthful, collegiate vibe without the looks feeling cheap.
Beyond the styling, this was the perfect year for PINK to go all-in on the internet’s massive obsession with 2016 nostalgia. Not an exact replica of that year, but responding to the feeling of a time when online culture seemed more playful and collectively shared. PINK already had the foundation, having spent the year building hype by reintroducing its iconic foldover flares and bold graphics. I would have mixed remixes of major 2016 songs with current trending audio and filled the stage with the creators who actually drive today's culture.
This is exactly where Kylie Jenner should have been. Kylie looked incredible on the main runway, and putting her in the $50 million Fantasy Bra was a massive surprise. But having her anchor the PINK section would have been far more iconic. Her 2016 King Kylie era, the legendary pink wig and Snapchat dominance, was the blueprint for the internet beauty and fashion culture everyone's nostalgic for right now. Using her as the bridge between PINK’s heritage and its current TikTok audience would have been the ultimate pop-culture play.
While PINK should have been the influencer and pop-culture playground, the main Victoria’s Secret runway needed to follow a completely different rule. It should have been kept strictly centered on traditional, professional models.
Modeling is a profession, and the Victoria’s Secret runway demands a highly specific skill set. A model has to control her pace, expression, and timing while carrying elaborate wings, working around performers, and making lingerie feel like a full theatrical look. The strongest Angels become iconic because they knew how to command that specific runway.
When viewers criticized the walks of certain newer participants this year, they were simply expressing a desire for that expertly performed, elevated runway. The casting conversation became highly sensitive after seasoned walkers like former Angel Romee Strijd and two-time participant Frida Aasen revealed they auditioned and were rejected. While no model is owed a permanent position, their exclusion intensified the debate about whether online reach is beginning to compete with runway ability.
Victoria’s Secret can expand who embodies the fantasy while still expecting exceptional talent. Inclusion and high professional standards are not opposites. Creators and celebrities absolutely belong at the overall event. They can perform, sit in the front row, create content, and completely take over the PINK halftime show. But the main runway should remind people why traditional modeling itself is so compelling. Older shows understood that.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has never succeeded by feeling relatable or attainable. It is supposed to deliver pure, unapologetic escapism. The Angels earned their name because they transported viewers into a heightened reality, entirely removed from an ordinary shopping trip. That illusion can absolutely be modern, inclusive, and culturally relevant without losing its magic.
PINK can and should be the engine that keeps the brand connected to the pulse of current culture. But Victoria’s Secret must reclaim the main runway as a realm of high-glamour fantasy, commanded exclusively by the world's greatest professional models. Audiences have asked time and again for that ultimate fantasy's return, and despite this year's improvements, the show still feels like it's holding back.
Give PINK the culture, but let Victoria’s Secret fully deliver the dream.
Dania Khalife
