Victoria's Secret Brings Its Runway Back to Los Angeles, and a $50 Million Bra Steals the Night

Victoria's Secret staged its annual runway spectacle on the West Coast for the first time in nearly two decades on Sunday night, relocating the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show to Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City after two consecutive years back in New York. The evening's biggest surprise came not from the runway's veteran Angels but from Kylie Jenner, who made her first-ever walk in the show wearing the brand's most expensive Fantasy Bra to date.

The show streamed live and free worldwide on Victoria's Secret's official YouTube channel, with simulcasts on Instagram and TikTok, and for the first time was also screened in select AMC theaters. Bella Hadid opened the roughly hour-long runway, which moved through spring-and-summer, autumn-corsetry and winter-sparkle segments, before Adriana Lima, who first walked the show in 1999, closed it.

What happened

Jenner's appearance was not on any pre-show cast list. She walked in a translucent miniskirt, clear heels and white feathered wings, wearing the 2026 edition of the Fantasy Bra — the jeweled centerpiece the brand has used to anchor its runway shows since 1996, when Claudia Schiffer wore the first one. This year's piece marked the design's first runway outing since Elsa Hosk wore it in 2018, according to Victoria's Secret's own account of the bra's history.

The bra was created with jeweler Jacob & Co., whose founder, Jacob Arabo, said on the brand's site that his goal was to make the most expensive Fantasy Bra ever made. Victoria's Secret creative director Adam Selman said he chose Arabo specifically for that ambition. Multiple outlets that covered the live show, including The Express Tribune and the Latin Times, put the bra's reported value at $50 million, describing it as a record for the franchise, built around 4,410 stones. Timothée Chalamet and Kris Jenner watched from the audience as Jenner walked.

By the numbers

The runway event doubles as a marketing centerpiece for a company in the middle of a very public turnaround. Victoria's Secret & Co., which trades on the New York Stock Exchange as VSCO, reported second-quarter net sales up 10% to $1.611 billion and operating income of $257 million in the results covered by its most recent 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 4, 2026, for the quarter ended August 1. The Fashion Show's relocation to Los Angeles, the first time organizers have staged it there in close to 20 years, is part of a broader reinvention push following the show's 2019 cancellation after years of falling ratings and criticism over diversity and tone.

The show returned to a live runway format in 2024 after a six-year hiatus, with two subsequent editions staged in New York before this year's move west. Sunday's cast ran deep with brand veterans: Alessandra Ambrosio marked her 20th appearance, two decades after her 2000 debut, while Carol Trentini returned to the runway for the first time in 17 years. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Elsa Hosk also returned after lengthy absences.

Context and background

Victoria's Secret has leaned on the Fantasy Bra as a recurring publicity hook since the 1990s, with past versions valued anywhere from roughly $1 million to $15 million depending on the year and the gemstones used. The brand's own page on the 2026 design does not disclose a dollar figure, saying only that the bra was inspired by Jacob & Co.'s Rare Touch jewelry line and built from exceptional diamonds in different shapes and sizes, including the jeweler's proprietary Angel-Cut stones.

The broader show leaned into an all-women musical lineup: rapper Megan Thee Stallion, K-pop act KATSEYE, country singer Megan Moroney and pop singer Tate McRae, who debuted her new single "Housewife" from the runway in a red corset. The "Angels Among Us" casting competition, a YouTube docuseries that ran ahead of the show, culminated in the on-air reveal of its winner, Cameroon-born, Maine-based model Solange Omon, as the newest Angel with a contract from IMG Models.

Who's affected

The relocation matters most for a brand trying to rebuild cultural relevance after a rocky decade. Models who built their careers on the Victoria's Secret runway in its 1990s-2010s heyday — Ambrosio, Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo, Doutzen Kroes and Irina Shayk among them — shared the stage with newer faces including Natalia Bryant, daughter of the late Kobe Bryant, and U.S. women's national soccer team forward Trinity Rodman, both making their runway debuts. Barbara Palvin walked roughly six weeks after giving birth, with husband Dylan Sprouse watching from the crowd.

Reaction

Former Angel Gisele Bündchen, who last walked the runway in 2006, appeared in a prerecorded segment teasing her own return to the franchise without giving a date, telling viewers they would be seeing more of her soon.

"This is the life that I want to have," Solange Omon, the newly crowned Angel, told People after her win was announced on the runway.

What's next

Victoria's Secret has not said whether Los Angeles will become a recurring home for the show or whether it will rotate back to New York, and the company has not released viewership figures from Sunday's YouTube and theatrical broadcasts. The brand's next scheduled financial update, covering the quarter that includes the critical holiday shopping season, will offer an early read on whether the splashier, West Coast staging translates into sales for a retailer still working to prove its turnaround can last.