Victoria’s Secret entrusted the brand’s most symbolic piece, the Fantasy Bra, to Kylie Jenner. Jenner walked the runway for the first time this year. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show took place on 18 October 2026 at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. The jewelled bra was worn by Kylie Jenner, founder of Kylie Cosmetics. Indeed, according to FashionUnited’s analysis, the move was less a casting choice than a deliberate media decision.
A brief history of the Fantasy Bra
According to a round-up by National Jeweler, the first Fantasy Bra appeared in 1996 in a print advertisement featuring Claudia Schiffer. What is more, in the years that followed, wearing the piece on the runway became a great honour. For the brand’s best-known Angels, it was the peak of a career. Jewellers such as Harry Winston, Mouawad and London Jewelers created versions. In these versions, they set diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires on silver or gold. The Fantasy Bra last appeared on the runway in 2018. The 2026 show therefore marked the piece’s return.
This year’s version was designed by New York jeweller and watchmaker Jacob & Co. The piece is valued at around 50 million dollars. With this figure, it holds the title of the most expensive Fantasy Bra ever to hit the runway. As National Jeweler reports, the bra is made entirely of 18-carat gold. At its centre sits a 75.54-carat brilliant yellow diamond. The piece also features 4,410 natural diamonds totalling 1,373 carats. It took 15 artisans more than 1,000 hours of work to create. The brand’s founder, Jacob Arabo, put it this way: “We wanted to create the most spectacular Fantasy Bra ever made, but value alone was never enough”. In other words, he said they wanted to make the most magnificent Fantasy Bra. But he added that value alone had never been enough.
Buying conversation, not follower counts
The figures best explain the logic behind the decision. Citing Launchmetrics data, FashionUnited reported the following. In the week after the show, conversation around Jenner alone generated 129.4 million dollars in media impact value (MIV). Victoria’s Secret earned this figure. Jacob & Co., which created the piece, achieved 18.5 million dollars in MIV.
The most striking figure, however, is the smallest. Jenner’s best-performing Instagram post generated 2.1 million dollars in value. That is less than 2 per cent of the total. In other words, most of the value did not come from the celebrity’s own channels. It came from the news, commentary and debate the look triggered. According to Launchmetrics data, 77 per cent of MIV in brand ambassadorships stems from this surrounding conversation. Victoria’s Secret’s chief creative officer (CCO), Adam Selman, also described Jenner as “an unexpected talent who has a massive following and massive cultural impact”. That is, an unexpected talent with a huge following and cultural influence.
The show is no longer a broadcast but a content platform
The way the show was distributed is also in line with this strategy. According to FashionUnited, for instance, the show was not tied to a television channel. It was streamed for free on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. According to Streams Charts data, the livestream’s peak viewership reached 3.64 million. That is an increase of 32.9 per cent compared with 2025.
The line-up also blended the new with the familiar. Experienced Angels such as Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel and Alessandra Ambrosio were on the runway. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley returned to the brand after 16 years. Among the new faces was footballer Trinity Rodman. Solange Omon, winner of the brand’s casting series Angels Among Us, was also on the runway. More than 100,000 people applied for these castings on social media.
The business picture
Hillary Super has been CEO since September 2024. Under her leadership, the brand has turned to big marketing moments such as the show. It has also focused more strongly on the bra category and discounted less. As FashionUnited reports, the company’s second-quarter sales rose 10 per cent to 1.61 billion dollars. The company has not yet reported results for the quarter that includes the show. It is therefore not yet possible to measure the show’s direct impact on sales.
Why it matters
In short, the Fantasy Bra example shows one thing. For luxury and fashion brands, choosing a face is no longer only an aesthetic decision but a distribution-driven one. What matters, in other words, is not so much follower count as how much conversation a look can generate. The lesson is clear for brands and agencies in Turkey, too. When choosing a campaign face, it is necessary to factor in storytelling and debate potential alongside reach. Open castings such as Angels Among Us, meanwhile, also open a door for those who want to break into the industry. We explain what to keep in mind along this path in our What It Takes to Become a Model guide.
Why does the Fantasy Bra tradition matter?
The Fantasy Bra is the showpiece adorned with precious stones that has become the symbol of the Victoria’s Secret shows. Who wears it also offers clues about the brand’s image strategy at the time. That is why the Fantasy Bra decision is not just a runway moment. It also carries a message about whom the brand wants to speak to.
For the history and transformation of the show, see Wikipedia’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show entry. For another of the season’s big fashion nights, read our report on the 2026 CFDA awards night.
Sources
- FashionUnited — From Angels to audiences
- National Jeweler — The $50M Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra, by the numbers
Image: Brand sign on the facade of a Victoria’s Secret store in New York, December 2012 (representative image) — WestportWiki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
