Los Angeles (CNN) — On Sunday night, just when you thought the megawatt spectacle that is the Victoria’s Secret runway show couldn’t get any glitzier, out struts Kylie Jenner in a $50 million diamond brasserie.
The “Fantasy Bra” is a Victoria’s Secret signature stunt — since 1996, the lingerie brand has designed roughly one bejeweled push-up bra per year, primarily for elevating catwalks. Claudia Schiffer was the first model to wear a Fantasy Bra in a photo shoot, while the last was Elsa Hosk on the runway in 2018 — both were valued at the time at a comparatively modest $1 million.
This year, the price tag of previous versions was dwarfed by Jacob & Co.’s $50 million creation. The luxury jewelers engineered Jenner’s bustier out of 91 large white diamonds ranging at between 5 and 18 carats each. At the bra’s center sat one yellow diamond over 75 carats. For a brand emerging from a rocky few years of public criticism and revenue losses, it read as a defiant investment into its own fantasy.
Celebrities from Timothée Chalamet and Kris Jenner to Nicole Kidman and Dylan Sprouse watched the procession of familiar Victoria’s Secret Angels such as Joan Smalls and Candice Swanepoel, as well as newer recruits like Paloma Elsesser and Alex Consani. Model Bella Hadid opened the show with a pair of delicate floral wings that looked more comfortable than those of previous shows. “The wings are so much lighter this year, so the girls are really walking,” said Consani backstage. Models strutted in a range of sheer to sportier takes on lingerie, soundtracked to live performances from global girl group Katseye, rapper Megan Thee Stallion and pop singer Tate McRae.
Solange Omon was unveiled as the winner of “Angels Among Us” — Victoria’s Secret new social-first reality show posted on YouTube in the weeks leading up to the event. The “America’s Next Top Model”-style series, spearheaded by the brand’s new chief creative officer Adam Selman, captures an ambitious open casting call process to recruit just one model. The competition begins in malls across the US, with thousands lining up to have their runway walk judged by a panel including Selman, Elsesser, Ashley Graham and Gigi Hadid. It’s clear that public appeal towards the brand remains — aside from the staggering number of applicants, the first episode, posted two weeks ago, has over 5 million views.
Since his appointment in April 2025, part of Selman’s job has been to contend with the controversial legacy of Victoria’s Secret. Links to Jeffrey Epstein sullied the brand’s reputation, while existential questions over whether its lingerie runway shows — which have been going since 1995, aside from a 6-year hiatus starting in 2019 — are patriarchal or empowering resurface each year like clockwork. In its official comeback show in 2024, before Selman joined, the brand attempted a quick course correct after decades of promoting one body type in the interest of “fantasy.” Plus-size and transgender models were cast for the first time in Victoria’s Secret history, though many called it tokenistic and “woke-washing.” At the beginning of 2026, the brand’s CEO Hillary Super told Fortune it has a commitment to diversity “without being performative, where we have to check every box.” The balancing act seemed to have worked — earlier this summer, the company doubled its share price on the stock market, according to Fortune.
For his second Victoria’s Secret runway show, Selman is continuing to toe that line between brand heritage and contemporary attitudes, embracing the fact that it appears the sex-appeal, the glamour, the fantasy, is in some ways, still what people want. His next generation Angels (Graham, Elsesser, Consani, Omon) walk alongside those such as veteran catwalker Adriana Lima, who racked up her 21st show for the brand Sunday night.
