Before a Victoria’s Secret show, people ask for a list. Who is in, who is out, who will open, who will wear the wings? I understand the excitement. But I do not want to turn a partial announcement into a false certainty. A model missing from a promotional image is not necessarily missing from the runway.
I would love to see Kendall Jenner walk it again. I would love another Vittoria Ceretti appearance too. Yasmin Wijnaldum has the sort of commanding walk that stays in my head long after a collection disappears from memory. I still think of her chain-swinging Dsquared2 moment. Whether any of them appears tonight is a matter for the actual show, not my wishful thinking.
Bella Hadid is another name people are asking about. I am not going to write a reason for any possible absence when the person and the brand have not given one. Models have careers far bigger than one runway. An invitation, a contract, a schedule and a private choice are different things; from the outside, we rarely know which one explains a missing face.
There is room for a first walk
The better question may be who we have not learned to look for yet. Victoria’s Secret says its Angels Among Us search will reveal a new Angel during the show. A debut is not a footnote to the return of famous names. It is somebody’s first chance to make this stage their own.
Natalia Bryant has spoken about preparing for her first Victoria’s Secret runway appearance. I am curious to see her as a model, not merely as a famous daughter. The same rule should apply to every newcomer: let the walk speak before the surname does.
My private watchlist
Gigi, Candice, Barbara and Adriana are already enough to keep me awake in Malta. Irina Shayk adds another reason. Her family story feels unexpectedly close to home for me: someone close to me is Tatar, and Irina has spoken about the Tatar roots on her father’s side. It is a small personal connection, not a claim of ownership over her story. It simply means I will notice her arrival a little more.
I hope tonight gives us the familiar walks we came for and the unfamiliar one we will be talking about tomorrow. And yes, I am still keeping a little hope for Kendall and Vittoria.
This column represents the author's view. It is separate from News Beast's automated, source-backed news reports.