# Victoria's Secret opens fashion show to creators, ending decades of model-only gatekeep

*The brand moved from celebrity scarcity to creator access, turning the runway into earned media distribution.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-06-26.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/victorias-secret-2026-06-26t21-7
Subject: Victoria's Secret
Tags: creator access, event marketing, earned media, physical product, fashion show, distribution

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Victoria's Secret invited creators to walk its 2024 fashion show, according to Glossy, ending a decades-long model that reserved the runway exclusively for professional models and A-list celebrities. The shift turned attendees into content engines: creators who walked the show generated posts, stories, and clips that extended reach far beyond the broadcast window.

The brand structured creator participation as a casting pathway, not a front-row token. Selected creators walked the runway alongside contract models, wore the product, and posted from backstage and stage. Each creator brought an existing audience and an incentive to document the experience in real time. The result was distributed storytelling across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, each post functioning as a micro-endorsement tied to a high-production moment.

The mechanism is access arbitrage. Fashion shows operate on scarcity: limited seats, high production value, cultural weight. By granting creators performer status rather than observer status, Victoria's Secret multiplied the content output without additional media spend. A creator walking the show has more to say—and more reason to say it—than a creator watching from the audience. The content is inherently first-person, backstage-forward, and tied to the creator's own narrative, which drives engagement in ways a brand-produced highlight reel cannot.

This also bypasses the economic inefficiency of celebrity casting. A celebrity appearance costs six or seven figures and delivers one set of paparazzi shots and a few tagged posts. A creator cohort—particularly mid-tier creators with **50,000 to 500,000 followers**—delivers dozens of posts, native platform optimization, and audience segments the brand would otherwise buy through paid media. The trade is favorable: access costs less than cash, and the content produced is more platform-native than anything the brand's internal team would publish.

For a small physical-product brand, the play is to create a participation ladder at your own scale. A product launch event, a pop-up, a warehouse tour, a collaborative unboxing session—any moment with inherent documentation value can be opened to creators in exchange for content. The key is to structure participation as performance, not observation. A creator who touches the product, demonstrates the use case, or plays a role in the event has a story to tell. A creator who watches does not.

Start with **10 to 30 micro-creators**—those with **5,000 to 50,000 followers** in your category. Offer them early product access, a role in the event setup, or a collaborative build. The invitation should include a clear content ask: three posts, two stories, one long-form video. Provide the hooks—unboxing moments, process shots, behind-the-scenes access—so the content writes itself. Budget **$200 to $500 per creator** for product cost and shipping, not cash fees. The creator's incentive is the content opportunity and the audience growth that comes from being featured in a brand moment.

Track output, not vanity metrics. Count pieces of content published, audience reached, and inbound traffic or search volume in the week following the event. The goal is not applause; the goal is attention turned into distribution.

The broader pattern is that exclusivity now lives downstream of access. Brands once hoarded scarcity to manufacture prestige. Now, the prestige comes from who tells the story and how widely it travels.

## The takeaway

Turn event access into content fuel by giving creators performance roles, not observer seats.

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## Publisher

**Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339.
Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**.

- Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about
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