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The 2025 Victoria’s Secret Style Present in New York was nothing in need of electrical, a stunning revival of glamour, poise, and cultural moments that can reside in style reminiscence. From the opening beats to the ultimate bows, every sequence was infused with a renewed sense of inclusivity and pleasure.
However because the lights glowed and the wings flared, some of the stirring themes was the glow and gravitas of the Black fashions who graced the runway, our queens, exhibiting up and completely exhibiting out.
Among the many highlights: Jasmine Tookes clearly embracing her child bump whereas strolling in lingerie, and WNBA standout Angel Reese making a placing entrance as the primary skilled athlete to don angel wings beneath the Victoria’s Secret banner. The vitality within the room soared, the cheers roared, and our queens shone brilliant.
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Anok Yai, the Sudanese‑American mannequin identified for her sharp options and commanding runway presence, has shortly grow to be one of many glamor world’s go-to faces, and she or he made her presence felt on Wednesday. This season, the 27-year-old, who walked in final 12 months’s Victoria’s Secret style present, stood out with a glance that mixed daring construction with shimmer, illuminating the stage and reminding everybody why she’s a rising icon within the style world.
She wore a pink lingerie outfit adorned with glittering diamonds and pink wings that trailed behind her like a goddess, paired with a surprising feather hat that appeared prefer it was plucked proper out of the flappers period. Yai adopted the horny outfit with a surprising silver meshed crop prime that she rocked with black lingerie, together with breathtaking diamond assertion earrings.
Yai first made waves in 2018 when she opened a Prada present simply months after being found by the style model, a unprecedented leap in mannequin lore, based on Forbes. She was the primary Black girl in twenty years to take action. Naomi Campbell was the final melanated mannequin to open for the Italian style model earlier than her historic feat.
“Once I first received launched into the style business, I may have simply been a flash within the pan – and I’m certain that’s what many have been anticipating, however instantly I made a decision that I used to be going to do the whole lot I may to grow to be a powerhouse,” Yai informed Forbes in 2021.“Being a mannequin means operating a enterprise, the place basically, I’m the enterprise. My likeness is what attracts individuals in, and my artistic and enterprise selections are the forces that drive it.”
Yai wasn’t the one one who lit up the runway. Listed below are all the Black fashions who stamped their mark on the 2025 Victoria’s Secret style present, every one bringing her personal story, model, and power to the catwalk.
1. Jasmine Tookes
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Jasmine Tookes, 34, isn’t any stranger to Victoria’s Secret, and this 12 months’s present added one other milestone to her legacy.
She made headlines this 12 months by opening the runway along with her child bump on full show, redefining conventional magnificence narratives. Tookes wore beautiful wings, embellished with giant pearls, together with a golden mesh gown adorned with related pearl designs.
All through her profession, Tookes has collaborated with main style homes, together with Prada, Burberry, and Calvin Klein, and co-founded the activewear model JOJA in 2022. Her presence this 12 months felt deeply symbolic: power, motherhood, and mannequin energy united on one stage.
2. Angel Reese
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Angel Reese, the 23-year-old rising WNBA star, made waves as the primary skilled athlete to mannequin for Victoria’s Secret on Wednesday. Her crossover from basketball courts to the catwalk was anticipated, and her strut in lingerie marked a brand new chapter for inclusivity in style.
At one level through the present, the 23-year-old stood out in a good looking pink lingerie adorned with brilliant pink and white flowers. She rocked an identical floral kimono together with the horny outfit.
For Reese, the second wasn’t nearly modeling; it was a press release: that athleticism, ambition, and wonder can all coexist in a single body.
As beforehand reported, the Chicago Sky participant informed PEOPLE forward of her Victoria’s Secret Style Present debut that she was “so proud and excited” to be the primary professional athlete to stroll for the model and hoped to encourage different girls watching her historic runway debut to dream large.
“I hope I can encourage girls and women in every single place and remind them that we will dominate in our discipline but in addition chase our targets exterior of it,” she stated. “And for me, that’s attending to stroll down style and leisure’s most iconic runway.”
3. Awar Odhiang
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Awar Odhiang embodies poised power and class. She walked in Victoria’s Secret’s 2024 Style Present, the place she was credited as one of many fashions showcasing daring, glimmering lingerie appears to be like that blended sensuality and energy.
Odhiang made waves once more at this 12 months’s occasion, sporting a surprising child pink lingerie set full with lovely chiffon angel wings within the form of a butterfly. The outfit showcased her daring persona and unimaginable catwalk expertise.
The South Sudanese mannequin has made important strides within the style world since being found by Mode Fashions on the age of 17. She is barely the third Black mannequin in Chanel’s 115-year historical past to shut a runway present, following within the footsteps of Alek Wek and Adut Akech. In October 2025, Odhiang joined their ranks, closing the Spring/Summer time 2026 present throughout Matthieu Blazy’s much-anticipated debut for the home.
Her journey in style displays rising illustration from South Sudanese fashions, and her projection this 12 months added texture and storytelling to the runway.
4. Joan Smalls
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Joan Smalls, 37, has lengthy been a power within the modeling world, some of the enduring and revered faces in style, and she or he proved it on Wednesday. Smalls lit up the runway in a gold layered prime with placing wings located on the prime of her head. She accomplished the look with gold panties and beautiful heels.
Her return to the Victoria’s Secret stage is yet one more image of her iconic standing, and she or he continues to hold each legacy and affect ahead. When she steps out, she brings along with her years of trailblazing and the type of confidence solely a veteran can put on so effortlessly.
The proud Afro-Latina, 37, was born in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, and launched her modeling profession in 2007. She shortly rose to worldwide fame, gracing the runways for prime style homes comparable to Givenchy, Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton.
In 2011, she made historical past as the primary Latina mannequin to grow to be the face of Estée Lauder cosmetics. Simply two years later, in 2013, she debuted on Forbes journal’s checklist of the “World’s Highest-Paid Fashions,” rating eighth with earnings surpassing $3 million.
Past her modeling success, Smalls has emerged as a robust advocate for variety and inclusion within the style business. She has constantly spoken out about its lack of illustration and stays dedicated to pushing for lasting change.
5. Imaan Hammam
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Imaan Hammam, 29, is thought for her versatility, luminous presence, and skill to cross between excessive style and extra industrial tasks. Whereas her previous credit embody editorial options with Vogue and runway stints with main style manufacturers like Fendi and Ralph Lauren, she’s additionally grow to be a fixture in Victoria’s Secret’s evolving lineup.
Her stroll on this 12 months’s runway bolstered how her modeling is each sleek and grounded, and introduced a lot‑wanted illustration to the present’s evolving aesthetic. She rocked a horny black and silver lingerie outfit adorned with colourful wings, complementing her lovely pores and skin and wealthy persona. Hammam introduced fierce vitality to the runway, interacting and smiling on the crowd as she set the catwalk on fireplace along with her smoldering stroll.
6. Luna Yohannan
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Whereas much less documented in mainstream protection than a few of her fellow queens, Luna Yohannan’s inclusion within the present speaks volumes about Victoria’s Secret’s broadened imaginative and prescient.
For Wednesday’s style present, Yohannan’s standout second got here when she strutted down the runway fearlessly in gray sweats and a hoodie, paired with a daring fur coat and a gray hat turned to the aspect.
The mannequin’s distinctive presence provides depth to the casting, signaling that new faces are being elevated. She embodies the following wave of fashions who don’t simply stroll the runway however carry private narratives, resilience, and rising affect within the style dialog. It’s no marvel she was named one among Vogue’s 2025 breakout stars of the spring style season. Yohannan confirmed off her versatile strut in reveals for main manufacturers like Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Moschino, sporting the whole lot from constructed robes to laid-back athleisure apparel.
7. Valuable Lee
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Valuable Lee is an American plus‑dimension (or “curve”) mannequin, actress, author, and advocate who has damaged limitations within the style world by bringing dimension and racial variety into excessive style.
On Wednesday, the 36-year-old mannequin shocked in a pink lacy lingerie set paired with a surprising feathered hat, exuding confidence as she paused to point out off her horny apparel. It was a second that embodied the whole lot Lee has stood for since coming into the scene: magnificence, fearlessness, and authenticity.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, she studied at Clark Atlanta College earlier than pursuing modeling full-time. Lee first gained broader recognition when she walked the runway at New York Style Week, making her debut at a Christian Siriano present in 2017, based on British Vogue. She later turned one of many first “curve” fashions to stroll for Versace of their Spring/Summer time 2021 present.
All through her profession, she has walked for famend homes comparable to Fendi, Moschino, Balmain, and Jean Paul Gaultier, and has appeared in main style magazines together with Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. She additionally makes use of her platform to advocate for extra inclusive illustration in style, championing the visibility of darker-skinned and fuller-figured girls.
8. Quenlin Blackwell
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Quenlin Riquera Blackwell, referred to as Quen Blackwell, is an American social media persona, YouTuber, comic, and now, a mannequin. She first rose to prominence by means of platforms like Vine and later TikTok and YouTube, the place she shared comedic content material, private reflections, and way of life movies.
Now she has expanded her on-line presence into modeling and appearing.
Blackwell made her runway debut on Wednesday, sporting a daring pink and black bathing go well with from Victoria’s Secret’s PINK line, proving that she’s not solely humorous but in addition has the modeling chops to actually make it within the style world, too.
In line with Grazia, Blackwell “was shocked” when Victoria’s Secret contacted her to participate on this 12 months’s style present.
“So y’all need me to stroll this present as a joke? Like funnies? Or like severe? They’re like, no, as a mannequin, a supermodel,” she stated.
9. Adut Akech
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Adut Akech is a South Sudanese–Australian supermodel identified for her meteoric rise within the business and her function as a voice for refugee illustration and variety in style.
Akech let her expertise shine on Wednesday, with a standout second rising when she took to the catwalk in a fiery pink lingerie gown, paired with beautiful equipment. Akech oozed seduction and large boss vitality within the scorching look.
Born in South Sudan, she spent a part of her formative years in a refugee camp in Kenya earlier than relocating along with her household to Australia. The star made her main runway debut in 2017 as an unique mannequin for Saint Laurent and has since walked and closed reveals for style homes comparable to Valentino, Givenchy, Dior, and Versace, and fronted campaigns for prime manufacturers.
In 2018 and 2019, she was named “Mannequin of the 12 months” by Fashions.com, and she or he continues to be featured on the covers of main style magazines.
Akech can also be vocal about giving again. In 2018, she expressed a need to open a modeling company in South Sudan and to help communities affected by displacement, based on British Vogue.
Collectively, these queens turned the runway right into a platform of celebration, visibility, and energy. In each step, they reminded us that magnificence is broader than ever and that once we middle voices and faces that too usually go unseen, the highlight solely grows brighter.
