I have watched the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show for years, and I can say this without pretending to be detached: I had more fun with this hour than I usually have with an entire Oscars ceremony. The 2026 show moved. The production had energy, the performances belonged to the runway rather than interrupting it, and before I knew it the final white looks were coming out. Since the show returned in 2024, this was my favourite edition by a distance.
I went in hoping to see Kendall Jenner again. I was not even certain Bella Hadid would appear. Bella opened the show; Kendall did not walk. Then came the twist I had not written into any of my pre-show columns: Kylie Jenner made her Victoria’s Secret runway debut wearing the returning Fantasy Bra. Marie Claire reported its value at $50 million. We waited for one Jenner sister and got a completely different story.
Kylie is the cover of this column for that reason. Not because one famous name should swallow a show full of working models, but because a good runway can still surprise somebody who spends far too much time trying to guess its cast.
The women who made the hour
Vittoria Ceretti’s return delighted me almost as much as Kylie’s entrance. I had hoped for her, but hope is not a casting announcement. Yasmin Wijnaldum was another welcome surprise. Seeing both of them on this runway after wondering whether they would be there is exactly the sort of payoff that keeps me watching live instead of catching a list of looks the next morning.
Candice Swanepoel looked commanding and entirely at home. Doutzen Kroes seemed to have lost none of the presence I remember from years ago. Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Irina Shayk brought experience rather than nostalgia alone. Irina had a particular light about her tonight. That is an impression from a television screen, not an insight into her private life; I do not need to attach a romance theory to a strong walk.
Barbara Palvin gave me another of my favourite moments. After becoming a mother, she returned with assurance and unmistakable presence. I do not want to turn her body into a before-and-after story. What I saw was a woman enjoying the stage on her own terms. Gigi Hadid was good too, although to my eye a little more subdued than last year. And Imaan Hammam reminded me why some people appear to have been made for a runway: she did not just wear the clothes; she gave them momentum.
A show with colour and a pulse
The Gisele Bündchen opening video was a lovely invitation into the night. Candice’s rebellious teaser, set to Enigma’s “Sadeness”, had already suggested the production might be less polite and more alive this time. That instinct proved right for me. Yellow, pink and turquoise kept returning to my eye, sometimes in the same look, and the white finale gave the hour a beautiful change of temperature. I can imagine some of those colour combinations escaping the show and turning up in wardrobes next year. That is a prediction of taste, not a fashion-industry forecast.
Tate McRae performed “Housewife” and looked completely at ease with the scale of the stage. The red suited her; the performance had the confidence and movement the night needed. I would not be surprised to see her walk a runway one day. The rest of the musical programme helped make the show feel like a production rather than a sequence of entrances with songs placed between them.
Nicole Kidman was among the faces I noticed watching. I looked for Timothée Chalamet because Kylie was there, and for Leonardo DiCaprio and Jason Statham because Vittoria Ceretti and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley were walking. I did not spot them on the stream. Marie Claire’s reporter, who was following the show in person, says Chalamet was in the front row applauding Kylie. That is a useful reminder of how much a camera can leave outside the frame.
Why I will remember this one
A surprise is not enough to make a great show. Kylie in the Fantasy Bra would have been a headline even if everything around her had felt flat. It did not. Bella’s opening, the return of Vittoria, Yasmin’s appearance, the familiar authority of Candice and Adriana, Barbara’s moment, Tate’s performance and that white finish all gave the reveal a stage worthy of it.
This is only one viewer’s verdict, written from Malta after staying up for the livestream. But I think the 2026 show will be remembered for more than the name in tomorrow’s headline. It remembered that spectacle is not merely size or expensive jewellery. It is pace, personality and the pleasure of not knowing exactly who will come around the corner next. For an hour, I forgot to check the clock. That is about the highest compliment I can give it.
This column represents the author's view. It is separate from News Beast's automated, source-backed news reports.