Angel Reese finally has Victoria’s Secret wings 

Angel(s) to the runway! On Wednesday, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese will walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the first professional athlete to do so.

Last week, Victoria’s Secret broke the news on Instagram, writing, “Angel Reese, welcome to the runway. The first professional athlete angel…major is an understatement.” 

Making her way to the runway is the latest achievement for a player who has made the most of the opportunities, particularly the brand deals, that have come her way since she entered the cultural conversation as a basketball powerhouse.

Reese’s collaborations seem to give a peek into her own sense of nostalgia. Last week, she announced a limited-edition collection with the early-2000s IT girl brand Juicy Couture. She’s the new face of the brand’s Viva La Juicy perfume, too. And because she’s always thinking of her fans – or perhaps even herself when she wanted a velour suit as a teenager, Reese said she made the collection with her plus-size and tall ladies in mind, pointing out the 40-inch inseam of the velour track pants in the collaboration.

Throughout her young career, Reese has proven to be quite the fashion girl, tapping into her interests off the court. In January, she earned a coveted cover for the fashion bible Vogue’s winter issue, attended two Met Galas, the event considered to be the Oscars of fashion, and even joined the 2025 hosting committee.

It could have taken years to achieve any one of those things, especially the Vogue cover. She attended the 2024 event and was at practice the next day. She’s doing exactly what she wants to do, and she’s not letting it interfere with her game.

And it’s not just high fashion giving Reese the stamp of approval. Last month, she became the fastest women’s basketball player to release her own signature shoe, after Reebok launched her Angel 1 sneaker. The shoes were released in three distinct colorways and sold out immediately. Reese is selective about what she attaches her name to, and it’s paying off as her fans are buying into it – and at record speed, too – in Reebok’s case.

She’s built such a strong resume in such a short time, and walking the Pink Carpet stands as another testament to the WNBA All-Star continuing to push those perceived boundaries.

Reese told People she manifested this moment while sitting in the audience at the 2024 Victoria’s Secret show, calling it a “surreal and full-circle” return — this time as an Angel, one of the brand’s top ambassadors. Not every model gets that title; it’s a role that goes beyond the runway, with contracts, campaigns, and appearances to match. The wings are a status symbol — the bigger they are, the longer the partnership. Some models wait years for theirs, but Reese didn’t have to.

She even shared what now seems like a prophecy on her Instagram story at the time, captioning a photo of a double-decker bus wrapped in an advertisement for the show on November 5, 2024: “I’m going to walk in the VS Fashion Show, mark my words!”

For years, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was considered a glamorous celebration of femininity. Supermodels such as Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell strutted down the runway in the brand’s signature playful lingerie. While there were typically only a handful of models of color featured in the show each year, the bulk of the women selected to walk shared a similar aesthetic: stick skinny with a big, voluminous blow-out hairstyle for a look that became known as “Bombshell Blowout.”

After the social reckoning of the #MeToo movement, the show felt less celebratory and more like a version of femininity for the male gaze because of the show’s lack of racial and size diversity and inclusion.

Adding to the controversy, and also probably contributing to the show’s declining ratings, were two Victoria’s Secret executives who alienated a key part of the brand’s target demographic: women.

One thought trans models didn’t belong on the runway, and another admitted to having ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Incidents like those represented a level of toxic masculinity that showed up in not only how the models were treated behind the scenes but also in the show itself. By 2019, the televised broadcast was canceled because of poor ratings.

Much has changed since the show’s heyday in the early 2000s. At the time, it reflected the social pressures on women’s bodies. The conversation in the media around size inclusivity and body positivity had been a significant factor in the show’s downfall.

Then, along came singer Rihanna and her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty.

Savage X Fenty marketed itself to women who wanted to celebrate all that their bodies were capable of. Rihanna’s first runway show was during New York Fashion Week in 2018, featuring models of all sizes and ethnicities, including disabled women, too. The superstar musician’s company got it right on the first try when Victoria’s Secret was falling out of favor. Once consumers had something to compare to the VS Fashion Show, the critiques got even louder.

When the Victoria’s Secret show was relaunched quietly in 2024, it featured the same crystal bras and blown-out hair, but on bodies that are more reflective of the world we live in. “We’ve read the comments and heard you,” the brand posted to Instagram in May 2024, announcing the show’s return.

Part of that iconic magic will be Reese.

The basketball star differs from past Angels in that she’s beautiful, independent, and unapologetically strong. Women have always been more than their looks, yet past Angels were often branded by beauty alone. Reese ushers in a new era, one that celebrates power as part of her allure. Her confidence and presence embody a modern strength and sacrifice, far removed from the punishing standards associated with the intense workout regimen and restrictive diets that once shaped the runway.

Reese has been instrumental in the WNBA’s crossover appeal, helping the league pull in record numbers from an audience that includes a large number of female fans. The women watching the WNBA are drawn to the athletes’ authentic and unique personalities.

Reese said, “I hope I can inspire women and girls everywhere and remind them that we can dominate in our field but also chase our goals outside of it — and for me, that’s getting to walk down fashion and entertainment’s most iconic runway.”

Tonight isn’t just a big night for Victoria’s Secret as it turns the page, but also for Reese, who’s officially the WNBA’s Angel now that she’s earned her wings.

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