What Really Happens Backstage at the Victoria’s Secret Show With Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and More
by STEFF YOTKA
It might be all big hair, big stars, and bigger Angel wings on the Victoria’s Secret runway, but like any fashion world affair, the real action happens backstage. In a large room at the Lexington Avenue Armory draped in shocking pink fabrics, models from Adriana Lima to Kendall Jenner were fluttering about in striped robes and coordinating pink flip-flops.
“It’s just a very happy moment,” first-time Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show model Jenner told Vogue.com, taking a pause from posing for photographers to relax on one of the many white couches placed throughout the space. “It’s something that I’ve always dreamed of, so I’m naturally excited,” she continued, recalling the shock of finding out she had been cast. “I didn’t believe it; I thought someone was messing with me. I started crying, and I was freaking out.”
Across the room, Jenner’s fellow Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show rookie Gigi Hadid was swarmed by cameramen. “It’s really awesome and I’m so happy it happened this way,” Jenner said of being cast in the show alongside her friend. “It’s really nice that we’re getting to do it together and spend this time together.”
For Hadid, the experience has been truly surreal. “I’m just trying to be calm, honestly. I woke up and listened to Disney music and lit candles,” she said with a smile. “As long as I’m with my friends, then I’m good, so I have a lot of friends here and that’s keeping me in a good headspace.” Hadid’s appearance in the Victoria’s Secret show follows a breakout ready-to-wear season where she appeared on a handful of runways from New York to Paris. Even with fashion world success, working with Victoria’s Secret is a dream come true for the model. “Not only is Victoria’s Secret a completely different show, but also it’s a lot more motivating, for me at least. I love being in lingerie more than in high fashion just because, with my body type—boobs, butt—there’s room for that in lingerie where a lot of the time I feel like it doesn’t fit in [the high fashion] world, so I love this and it’s very me.”
Elsewhere, newly minted Angels Stella Maxwell, Martha Hunt, Sara Sampaio, Taylor Hill, and Jasmine Tookes took turns posing for photographers and getting their hair and makeup done. “I think about how lucky I am to be on the runway at all,” mused Maxwell on the experience, while Tookes admitted that despite having appeared in four VS shows, there was added intensity this year as an official spokeswoman for the brand. “I feel a little bit more pressure this year walking as an Angel, but I’m so excited,” she said.
Once Hunt, Sampaio, and Hill finished an impromptu photo shoot in the middle of the room, they reflected on being named Angels this year. “There’s more focus on the Angels because we shoot for the brand all the time,” Hill began, with Sampaio adding, “And I’m so excited to watch on TV, too, because this year we got to do all those clips for each section.” In a chorus they explained their states of mind hours before the show: “I’ve got butterflies in my stomach right now,” said Hunt. “And I’m just thinking about . . . not falling!” exclaimed Hill with a laugh. How will this trio be celebrating postshow? “Eating pizza!” they said in unison. “I’m going to take over all the pizza,” proclaimed Sampaio. “You guys are not having any. I’ve cut carbs for the past 10 days and the thing that’s been on my mind is pizza.”
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