Our friends are always there to support us, give us meaningful advice, and help us be better. Supermodel Gigi Hadid proved celebrities’ friendships work the same, as she admitted she used a detail inspired by her longtime friend Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour as she opened the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Oct. 15.
It’s been a long time coming, as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has returned after a six-year break at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. The fashion extravaganza brought back many iconic supermodels who got their wings back, including Tyra Banks, Kate Moss, Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, and Ashley Graham.
The past few years have been difficult for the iconic lingerie brand, as it was surrounded by controversy and criticism for its body positivity messages. This year, more diverse models took the runway, and it was an affair to remember. Hadid was the first model to walk the VS runway and she did so by using a Taylor Swift move.
Gigi Hadid included not just one but two Taylor Swift references during her VS walk
Supermodel Gigi Hadid opened the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion show and she did so with a pink silk outfit and matching angel wings. She appeared on the stage on a platform and before starting her strut, she paused and waved to the audience. For the untrained eye, this means nothing, but Swifties caught the reference immediately. The move — including her popup from the stage — is heavily inspired by her friend Taylor Swift’s opening of her global Eras Tour.
The Eras Tour show begins with the Lover era, where Swift appears on a platform from under pastel wings, and waves to the crowd with the iconic “oh hi,” as she looks around the stadium.
Fans were quick to react online. “Gigi just did Taylor’s iconic “oh hi” at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show!” one fan wrote on X. “Not Gigi doing the Taylor pose I’m dead!” someone else chipped in.
The references didn’t end there. Following her walk, Gigi continued her heavy Swift references as she left the stage the same way Swift does during her Reputation era, where she’s slowly lowered beneath the stage.
The Swift references might have come as a surprise for some, but Hadid teased her Easter eggs before the show. She told Entertainment Tonight, “I can’t remember if it’s ever been done on the VS runway, but there’s an aspect to it that I was trained to do by Taylor on her tour. At one of her rehearsals, she was like, ‘I’m going to show you how we do this,’ and now I’m using it tonight.”
Taylor Swift didn’t attend the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show but she has ties to the event herself. She was one of the performers two years in a row, and one of them was the definition of iconic. The first time she hit the runway was in 2013 to perform her song “I Knew You Were Trouble” from her fourth studio album, Red. The next year, she charmed everyone as she performed her 1989 singles “Blank Space” and “Style,” walking down the stage hand in hand with some of the models, fitting right in.
This was an exciting night for Gigi, who shared her excitement about walking down the VS runway again on Instagram with a throwback at her favorite moments. Hadid made her Victoria’s Secret debut in 2015 and last walked the show in 2018. The show was fascinating because it was the first time in six years she walked the same runway as her sister, Bella Hadid. Her Taylor Swift moves were just the wings on top of an angel-filled runway.