But then I was sent another invitation in the form of an Instagram ad. Victoria's Secret hosted a free watch party in the Penn District that didn't require registration. When I arrived at 6pm for the 7pm show, the music was blaring and the pavilion was already full of people trying to understand what was on offer. Jacob's Pickles had a booth, as did Pastrami Queen. Some walls were plastered pink with the brand's logos and wings. As I was checking out the chairlift photo op, I met a mother and her teenage daughter from New Jersey who were on the way. Their daughter was a fan of Lisa, the Korean pop star who performed on the show, and when they realized Lisa wouldn't physically be at Penn Station, they bailed out. “I can stream this anywhere,” she told me in Spanish. Fair enough.

I strolled around and met another teenager, Nicole, with her mother and friend Isabella, sitting on the edge of the pavilion with a perfect view of the large screens waiting for the show to begin. Isabella bought her first body spray from Victoria's Secret when she was around 10 years old and saw the show as a child. Nicole too. “It kind of inspired me because I loved the outfits and the colors,” she said, recalling the year Gisele Bündchen popped out of a giant Christmas present on stage. They were both most excited to see Adriana Lima and were impressed by how good she looked in the backstage pictures on social media. “She looks young!” Isabella said without irony. “I was hoping they would bring Bella Hadid back,” Nicole added. I told her I heard Bella would be there and they were both excited. Her mother said nothing but filmed us while I interviewed her. Isabella said the show was “iconic.” I said goodbye and continued making my rounds, meeting another mother and daughter from Germany, some Portuguese students, and two cute Dutch women in their early 20s who said they were “obsessed” with Victoria's Secret.

Then it was showtime and the music got louder as almost everyone turned their attention to the screens to watch the 40-minute show. At first I thought the audience around me was cheering on each model's appearance on the runway. But the applause was accompanied by the soundtrack. A few people around me cheered for the performers (Lisa, Tyla and especially Cher) and the most famous models: Adriana Lima, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Behati Prinsloo, Tyra Banks and Kate Moss, whose appearance had never been announced before. Nobody blinked when Carla Bruni or Eva Herzigová appeared. (Wrong audience, I guess.) Not everyone was paying attention: I saw a group of young finance bros successfully insinuate themselves into a group of young corporate girls and talk throughout the entire show. But mostly people just looked at the big screens in quiet confusion and pulled out their phones when a famous model appeared.

I found the new Victoria's Secret show more sophisticated than the cheesy, toned, and tanned 2010s – less tacky costumes, less cleavage, and fewer mountains of teasing extensions. More relaxed, less strained. (At least in tone. Think of how many millions of dollars it cost to bring all those angels back together!) But the entire format still felt strangely cold to me – and inevitably couldn't match the nostalgic thrill of those old shows , which become larger than life for the Nicoles and Isabellas of this world. For me, seeing Ashley Graham on that runway didn't feel quite as significant as I'd hoped, even considering she'd been rejected years ago because of her size.

After the show, I met three women in their early 20s: Orla, Abby and Danae, all colleagues who had just moved to New York from Scotland, the UK and Ireland to work in finance. They were such Victoria's Secret fans that they showed up three hours before showtime and waited in line for an hour to get into the members' lounge. “Everyone screamed when Kate Moss came out,” Orla said. “I’m so happy it’s back; There was no point in stopping it,” said Danae, who was the most uncompromising fan of the three. “They inspire me to stay healthy, exercise, stay fit and be pretty. “You want to look at them pretty,” she said. Orla welcomed the new age and body diversity of the models, but appreciated that there wasn't as much focus on her. “It didn’t feel like they were virtue signaling,” she said. “This was a little more authentic, still Victoria's Secret, but 2024 style.” Abby didn't want to give the brand too much credit. “I think they're just doing the bare minimum with diversity and body types, no offense,” she said. “But I like seeing all the old models; I think it was very nostalgic.”