On October 15th, 2025, the bass music emanated loudly from Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. After hearing the thumping, i imagined that the live guests could likely feel it in their chests as they sat eagerly in anticipation.
Then, I heard the music’s tempo pick up the pace. Next, I saw the Angels emerge. And then, they were out, on full display. They were strutting their stuff with full-body gusto both up and down the Victoria’s Secret Runway, one by one, in front of the live audience.
Pristine white wings flashed back and forth. Then, the other girls with their dramatic black wings approached and passed to their side. I really like the classic and contrast of the white against black wings. This has always caught my eye ever since I first watched the show back in 2012.
This year, I was watching the singer Madison Beer perform on the catwalk, with her crystal-encrusted wings which probably weighed a good few pounds. I liked it but cringed and thought you better make sure to hit the gym a few times before having to wear those things. But, I was genuinely impressed, I thought she was really expertly performing.
But what really struck a chord with me, was that this spectacle still shows you that anything is possible in the modeling world. It’s like being a teenager working at Forever 21 in a mall in some small town in Ohio, and then one day you find yourself strutting out on the international catwalk. And, it all comes down to old-fashioned glamour and commercial appeal.
The Unspoken Link Between the Mall and the Catwalk
One thing that I don’t think gets mentioned at Fashion Week is that most of these top models make their living by doing modeling commercial work. It’s not just high-end catwalk shows that will support these professional models. I feel that this is the basis for the idea behind Victoria’s Secret. And, it is what the company’s retail empire was built upon.
Remember Heidi Klum? Her photos and videos were everywhere. She wasn’t hanging out in Valentino campaigns. She was selling bras to soccer moms in California and raking it in. The brand created this weird pipeline where the same face that was on a mall storefront could simultaneously end up strutting around in a $2 million Fantasy Bra. Ha!
This system is still very much in place, I believe. It is totally plausible that a casting director might flip through Instagram photos taken right inside actual Victoria’s Secret stores. A girl might be tagged inside of Victoria’s Secret from one of their local mall stores. Couldn’t you see a director pausing on one image? She might say, “Good smile. And she’s got that real person vibe.” That model? In my opinion, you just might see her one day walking right onto a Future Victoria’s Secret Runway Show.
Madison Beer and the Death of One-Trick Models
When Beer took the stage, with her modeling skills and her singing performance too, she nailed it. I believe that some smart models have been saying for ages: “It’s not enough to be pretty anymore.” Model Gigi Hadid once said that you need to give them content, personality, and something more.
Beer appears to get all of it. She has been building that commercial retail relationship through the brand’s Tease fragrance campaigns. She’s understood the assignment. She needed to sell not only the fantasy but also sell the actual product too.
Watching her vocalizing on the runway while also working the cameras was pretty much like a masterclass. She has been nailing every angle that an e-commerce team would need. This shows business understanding and knowing how to make yourself into a brand that people also want to buy from.
What “Commercial” Really Means and It’s Not an Insult
Backstage two models might disagree about “going commercial”. One is likely to say it was a bad word and start talking about selling out. The other, might respond by saying that if she had just landed a Target Campaign, then she would be laughing all the way to the bank. No remorse.
Here’s the truth, I think, covering both sides: Commercial modelling keeps the lights on. Editorial modeling gets you invited to parties. Smart models should do both, but they should probably prioritize the one that will pay the bills.
At the Victoria’s Secret show, I watched Candice Swanepoel own the runway. She’s a boss. She’s done Versace and Givenchy. But, she built her career on being that girl who can make a $50 bra look like something aspirational to some chick shopping on her lunch hour at the mall. That’s a skill that haute couture won’t teach you.
The Scouting Game Has Changed
Since around the time of Covid in 2020, a new potential model might be discovered through her Dairy Queen uniform selfie online. I’m not joking. A casting director could see her tagged photo, and if she had the bone structure despite wearing that unflattering visor, the executives might end up paying to fly her to New York City.
This retail-to-runway path would have definitely seemed impossible back in the 1990’s. Back then you needed to have an agency representing you, and comp cards, and also the whole complete traditional route. These days? VS scouts at a runway show might be on their phone also comparing TikToks from girls who’d never even met an agent before.
I saw a video from one scout’s phone, captioned: “This girl works at our store in Atlanta. Look how she moves in these videos.” Natural rhythm, good lighting, knew her angles. She’d taught herself all this making content in her bedroom with no guidance.
The Real Takeaway Nobody’s Saying
When it comes to fashion, what the 2025 VS show showed us, in reality, is that the whole modeling mythology is basically a load of hooey. You don’t need to starve yourself down to a tiny sample size. And, no, you don’t have to uproot yourself from your home and pay some ungodly rent in some gross model apartment in Manhattan. And definitely, you don’t have to look like you spent the last few years sniffing glue.
What you actually do need is something both harder and easier to pull off at the same time. You need to be able to connect with ordinary people and, at the same time, look like a total dream. Can you manage to take a selfie that gets someone to stop scrolling and think to themselves, “You know what, maybe I actually think I could look like that.”
I was watching those models, and they came in all shapes and sizes, from size 2 to 14, and they absolutely tore up that runway. And the crowd was just as psyched about all of them. It was like they just wanted to see the models and imagine themselves slipping into some sparkly, glamorous outfit themselves.
The Path from the Mall to the Catwalk is Definitely Up and Coming Now.
And, it’s probably a lot more achievable than it has ever been before. But to be honest, you have got to wrap your head around the fact that commercial work, for the majority of people, is not some consolation prize. Commercial modeling is the real deal, and it is the highlight of most working models’ careers. And for editorial work, well, that’s just a nice keepsake to add to your resume or pull out for family gatherings like I used to do with my cousins.
After the Brooklyn event ended that night, I’d headed up to my local mall the next day. Passing the Victoria’s Secret store on the way through the mall, I saw a couple of teenagers taking selfies in front of it. One girl, probably about 17, was completely focused on getting the shot just right, scrolling through her phone to adjust her angles. Her friend was trying to help her out, but she was being a bit of a perfectionist.
She knew that if you don’t get it just so, then nobody’s going to notice, except for the people who don’t matter. Ha!
That girl got it. I think she really did.
