Tyra Banks came out of retirement Tuesday to close out the revamped 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
After a 19-year break, the 50-year-old ascended from underneath the staged runway and did her signature strut — and her “smize” — in a VSX balconette catsuit, bustier and a metallic cape. Alas, she did not don those iconic angel wings.
The “America’s Next Top Model” star and talk show host was followed by dozens of models who literally walked in her footsteps for the finale. Banks was famously the brand’s first Black contract and catalog cover model and walked in nine of the prime-time shows before her 2005 retirement to pursue other entertainment ventures and build her media empire.
“In case you forgot,” the former “Dancing With the Stars” host wrote on Instagram, captioning a clip of her comeback.
The globe-hopping annual show, once considered must-see television by many when it aired on broadcast TV from 1995 to 2018, took a six-year break after being canceled by executives in 2019 amid a backlash about plus-size and transgender models, exclusiveness and lack of body positivity. This year’s 45-minute lingerie lineup took place in Brooklyn at the Navy Yard’s Duggal Greenhouse and was streamed on Amazon Prime. The company touted it as a reflection of “who we are today, plus everything you know and love — the glamour, runway, wings, musical entertainment, and more!”
Model Gigi Hadid, who walked the perennially campy runway for the first time in 2015, announced the return of the show with Banks back in May. This year, she opened the runway in a pink satin romper and mechanical angel wings while the words “We Are Back” lit up screens behind her.
Hadid was joined by her sister Bella Hadid and followed by dozens of models, including notable VS Fashion Show first-timers supermodel Kate Moss, 50; former French first lady Carla Bruni, 56; body positivity advocate Ashley Graham, 36, and trans model and influencer Alex Consani, 21. (Even with their inclusion, some critics still felt the resurrected show didn’t go far enough or was taking only a performative approach to inclusivity.)
For Banks, it was a reunion of sorts as veteran Angels Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo, Taylor Hill, Doutzen Kroes and Jasmine Tookes — with Tookes in the brand’s $3-million Fantasy Bra — took flight down the catwalk too.
Music legend Cher performed her hits “Strong Enough” and “Believe” as part of the show’s all-female musical lineup, which also included K-pop star LISA and South African singer Tyla.
