When Wings Return: Gigi Hadid & the Spectacle of the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

When Wings Return: Gigi Hadid & the Spectacle of the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has always carried weight — not just as lingerie spectacle, but as ritual, pageantry, and a mirror of shifting ideals about beauty, performance, and spectacle. In 2025, it came back with fanfare, and Gigi Hadid reclaimed her role not just as model, but as one of its central storytellers.

Held in New York City on October 15, the show brought together legacy names, rising stars, and an emotional sense of return. The brand’s runway had been dormant for years, and its revival was loaded with expectations. But it was Gigi — and the synergy of her presence alongside her sister Bella Hadid — who emerged as the evening’s gravitational center.

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Two Looks, One Journey

Gigi’s runway presence was anchored in contrast and transformation. Her first look was striking: a Barbie-pink lace two-piece, crowned by a dramatic floral petal cape that fluttered with movement and texture. The color was bold, feminine, unabashed — and in that moment, she embodied the show’s high-glamour ethos.

But her second turn felt more intimate. She reemerged in an angelic white ensemble with massive quilted wings — softer, more ethereal, like a dream from the heart of the show. The shift from vibrant pink to shimmering white captured both the fantasy and vulnerability of runway mythmaking.

Gigi has said in past interviews how deeply she feels the responsibility of walking for a brand so steeped in legacy. This return was not just a performance — it was affirmation. She reflected on her early years: the attempts, the rejections, the grit behind the glamour. Tonight, much more was on display than lingerie.

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The Hadid Factor: Bella, Sisterhood & Legacy

Bella Hadid’s presence added resonance. When sisters walk together — especially in a theater like this — the runway becomes narrative. Bella’s comeback looks, including a bold red set and later a metallic fringe outfit with dramatic floral wings, complemented Gigi’s, both echoing and counter-pointing her sister’s energy.

The sisters’ alignment of style — pink and red motifs revisited from previous years — felt deliberate, a visual stitching of continuity. Their shared history on runways, their shared commitment to the fashion world, and their ability to be individual yet connected added emotional texture to the spectacle.

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Beyond the Models: Performance, Production & Message

The 2025 show didn’t stop at models. Performances by Karol G, among others, injected musical energy and cultural relevance. The stage was not only for walking, but for moment-making. The set, lighting, styling, and choreography all tried to bridge the legacy of Victoria’s Secret with contemporary sensibilities: more inclusion, more narrative, and more intentional styling.

When a show of this scale comes back from hiatus, every detail matters. Wings become symbols, lighting becomes mood, wings and lace become storytelling devices. Gigi’s looks felt both classic and rooted in the present moment — a conversation between fashion’s past and what it might become.

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Why This Moment Resonates

Why does Gigi’s return feel meaningful? Because it isn’t only about her strut or her outfits. It is about memory, evolution, and visible ambition.

For many, the Victoria’s Secret show evokes nostalgia — of eras where fashion, spectacle, and branding collided. In 2025, the show’s return is a test: can the spectacle coexist with contemporary expectations? Can the fantasy of wings and lace carry resonance again in a world that’s increasingly skeptical of surface glamour?

Gigi’s performance felt like an answer: yes — if the storytelling is real, the transformation is honest, and the emotional stakes are visible. She walked not just as model, but as witness, chronicler, and bridge.

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Final Thoughts

When the curtains drew and the lights softened, what remained was not just gorgeous costumes or poised models — it was the sense of return, of reclamation, and of possibility. Gigi Hadid’s moments on that runway were proof: legends don’t just revisit stages; they reshape them.

The 2025 Victoria’s Secret show reminded us that spectacle still carries force — when crafted with care, heart, and meaning. And in that space between wings and lace, a model becomes more than image: she becomes story.