When the first Victoria’s Secret show was held back in the ’90s, Kate Moss was busy being the poster girl for the decade’s grunge movement: smoking backstage at Isaac Mizrahi shows and joining Johnny Depp on the red carpet in minimal make-up and a messy bun. When it became a televised event in the early Aughts, it still wasn’t on the supermodel’s radar. “I saw bits of it, of course,” says Moss, reflecting on the army of bewinged glamazons that helped to attract an audience of millions at its peak. “But I wasn’t really an underwear girl… I wasn’t a Victoria’s Secret girl.”
That all changed tonight in New York, as the lingerie extravaganza returned for the first time in six years in truly blockbuster style—with Moss as the surprise casting coup in a night that was full of them. Somewhere between Doutzen Kroes losing a stiletto and a barnstorming performance from Cher, Moss appeared in a cloud of dry ice to walk the runway solo, save for a female guitarist belting out “I Love Rock And Roll”.
The track was apt. While the likes of Gigi Hadid and Paloma Elsesser—along with OG Angels including Tyra Banks and Alessandra Ambrosio—beamed and waved at the crowd as they walked, Moss retained her signature edge, slinking down the catwalk in a sheer black lace dress accessorized with a pair of (understated by VS standards) black tulle wings and a smoldering stare.
It was one of several wow moments in a high-energy show vaunted by the brand as representing a reinvented Victoria’s Secret—one that is more diverse, more body positive, more age inclusive. According to Kate – who describes the old shows as “enjoyably cheesy”—it’s also cooler.
It was the addition of Emmanuelle Alt, the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris who was brought on board to style the 2024 show, that persuaded Kate to take part for the first time. “She’s one of my favorite stylists,” says Moss, who spoke exclusively to Vogue ahead of the show. “Whatever she does, it’s gonna be cool. She’s got such a great eye, so I felt safe.”
Still, there were a few pre-show jitters for the super, who last walked the runway in 2022 for Bottega Veneta. “It’s fun and exciting, but I still get nervous,” she said. “It’s just on such a huge scale. When I used to do shows all the time obviously I didn’t even think about it – we’d just do back to back shows on the same day. Now it’s such a different thing, [the girls arrive] eight hours before a show for hair and make-up.” Some familiar faces backstage no doubt helped. “Lila’s here!” says Kate, whose 22-year-old daughter walked the runway in a pale pink lingerie set under a matching fringed jacket. “And a few of my friends, Joan Smalls, Carla Bruni…”
That mother and daughter both walked in the show is perhaps indicative of the broader audience—and customer base—that Victoria’s Secret is trying to reach. “Everybody buys clothes, not just 22-year-old girls,” Kate says of the importance of representation on the runway. “That’s why it’s good to show older women and bigger women, to be more inclusive of everyone. [Fashion as a whole] is definitely in a much better place.”
