Angel Reese Got Her Wings at the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

Angel Reese, like many Gen Z women, grew up shopping at Victoria’s Secret, gazing at the larger-than-life photos of the lingerie brand’s angels that hovered above the displays of Bombshell bras. “I would always watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and always dreamed that I, one day, could possibly be a model,” the Chicago Sky forward tells Vogue. Last year, she attended the show, after which she posted on her Instagram story, “I’m going to be a Victoria’s Secret model one day.” Today, she gets her wings, making her runway debut and joining the class of the first athletes to walk in the show.

“I have a video of me, when I was younger, dancing in Victoria’s Secret sweatpants and a hoodie,” Reese says the day before the show. “It’s a full circle moment for me.”

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

Reese grew up watching America’s Next Top Model on TV, and was particularly drawn to Tyra Banks, an Angel herself. “I love Tyra Banks. She reminds me of myself—her confidence and the way she just owns it,” Reese says. So it should come as no surprise that Banks (among other supermodels) served as an inspiration for Reese’s own runway walk.

“I watched a lot of Tyra, I watched a lot of Naomi, I watched Adriana Lima,” she says of her runway preparation. Although Reese admits that all three of the models have totally different walks, she’s taking note of the little things that set them apart. “Tyra does a nice little bounce; Naomi’s more fierce. I’m not really [emulating] the exact walk, but more of the gestures and mannerisms—small things, like a little smize.”

Gilbert Flores/Getty Images

Gilbert Flores/Getty Images

While she’s got confidence to spare, Reese worked with a runway coach, Alexander Aleson, to help her train for this moment. “He’s actually retired, but he came out of retirement for me,” she says. His prevailing advice? “Be confident, be yourself, have fun. Know that you’re that girl. Just own it.”

Here, Angel Reese takes us behind the scenes at the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.