- Tyra Banks returned to the Victoria’s Secret runway for the first time in almost two decades.
- The 50-year-old called it “a bit of an out-of-body experience.”
- Now that she’s back, there’s no telling where this momentum will take her.
After much anticipation at the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Tyra Banks returned to the angel runway for the first time in almost 20 years. The moment was significant for the former supermodel, who retired in 2005 to focus on other professional endeavors. Since then, the modeling culture has changed significantly and now she can do it all at the age of 50.
At the Oct. 15 event, Banks took to the runway — rising from the floor, anyway — wearing a black jumpsuit, a silver crystallized corset, and a striking black and silver cape that billowed behind her during her iconic, timeless split. Banks posted a video of the momentous performance on Instagram and simply captioned it, “In case you forgot.”
She announced her comeback in September and said so Harper’s Bazaar that she “never in a million years” thought she would return to her roots this way. She called it a “little out-of-body experience.”
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When Banks decided to retire, her goal was to host a talk show. At that time, both career paths – modeling and more “serious” entertainment – were mutually exclusive, she added. Now she is happy that the modeling world accepts diversity in all its manifestations.
“I think the world has evolved in such a way that I can be a businesswoman AND own my ice cream factory, speak at business institutions, get a course certificate at Harvard, teach at Stanford University and yes, become a Victoria’s Secret model,” she said. “I think the world has changed and seen that as women we don’t have to be stereotyped and fit into one mold.”
When she teased fans about her return to modeling, the response was predictably astronomical, prompting Banks to reconsider the whole retirement thing. However, she promised that she would do it step by step, starting from the Victoria’s Secret catwalk. “I just want to come out of retirement and then I can evaluate all these other things and figure out what I want to do and what I don’t want to do,” she said.
Time to wait and see what he decides to do next.
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