Pregnant Jasmine Tookes Took the Spotlight at the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

When Jasmine Tookes stepped onto the Victoria’s Secret runway on October 15, 2025, she did more than open a fashion show — she delivered a moment that instantly felt like a cultural marker. Nine months pregnant and radiant, Tookes walked with the calm, assured poise of a seasoned supermodel, pausing to cradle her baby bump as flashbulbs and cheers followed each step. The evening’s opener became one of the most-talked-about images of the year: a celebration of pregnancy, glamor, and the changing face of high fashion. 

Tookes’s look was carefully composed to spotlight — not hide — her pregnancy. She wore a gold, netted one-piece that traced the contours of her bump, layered under a sculptural shell-like backpiece dotted with pearl-like accents. The ensemble read like a contemporary “birth of Venus” tableau: ethereal, jewel-toned, and precise in its theatricality. As she moved down the catwalk, she rested her hands on her hips, then gently cupped her stomach — small, intentional gestures that reframed the runway moment from spectacle to tender self-possession. Photographers captured the sequence repeatedly; editors called it one of the night’s defining images.

The choice to feature a heavily pregnant model in such a prominent position felt both symbolic and practical. Historically, mainstream high-fashion runways have long been conservative about visibly pregnant bodies — pregnancies were often kept private, and pregnant models rarely occupied major spotlight moments. By placing Tookes at the start of the show, Victoria’s Secret signaled a deliberate, public-facing embrace of motherhood as part of its brand narrative. For Tookes personally, who announced her second pregnancy in July 2025, the moment was also deeply personal: it connected her professional identity as an Angel and runway star to this new chapter of life as a visible, celebrated mother-to-be. 

Media reactions were immediate and varied, but the dominant tone was celebratory. Outlets framed the walk as an historic and joyful moment — a pregnant model, nine months along, opening one of fashion’s most-watched nights. Social media amplified that framing: clips of Tookes cradling her belly were shared widely and accompanied by supportive commentary from fans and fellow models. Victoria’s Secret itself posted footage of the walk on Instagram, and the brand’s caption — delightfully unabashed — captured the internet’s mood: “Raise your hand if you’re still recovering from @jastookes opening.” The moment underscored how live spectacle, amplified by social platforms, can turn a single runway entrance into a viral cultural event. 

But the reaction also sparked thoughtful conversations about representation. Fashion critics and cultural commentators asked whether Tookes’s appearance was a genuine expansion of inclusivity or a carefully staged moment of spectacle. Some praised Victoria’s Secret for normalizing pregnant bodies on a blockbuster runway; others cautioned against tokenism, urging the industry to expand access and support for pregnant and postpartum models beyond singular headline-making moments. Those critiques point to a larger conversation: visibility matters, but so do sustained policy changes — like maternity accommodations, casting practices, and long-term investment in diverse body types — if fashion is to move beyond symbolic gestures. (See: how brands can support pregnant talent at scale.) 

There’s another, softer layer to what Tookes’s walk represented: a reframing of beauty standards. For decades, runways favored a narrow set of silhouettes and states of being, often excluding stages of life like pregnancy from the spectacle of fashion. When a model claims runway space while visibly pregnant, it reframes maternity as a subset of glamour rather than a private or sidelined condition. For many viewers — pregnant or not — the image of Tookes in that shimmering netted gown felt like a simple, clarifying message: pregnancy is not the opposite of elegance; it’s another kind of radiance. This doesn’t erase the structural issues the fashion world faces, but it does show how one moment can subtly shift public imagination. 

The technical side of the look also contributed to the narrative. Makeup artist Pat McGrath — who has worked extensively with Tookes before — reportedly enhanced the model’s “pregnancy glow” with a golden body oil and minimal, luminous face makeup, choices that kept attention on the skin and silhouette rather than heavy cosmetics or distracting accoutrements. The styling choices created a visual through-line: the body and bump were the centerpiece, framed by sculptural jewelry and a quiet, sophisticated hair-and-makeup palette. In short, the glamour supported, rather than obscured, the personal statement. 

Industry implications are worth watching. Victoria’s Secret’s 2025 edition — staged at Steiner Studios in New York — brought back a sense of pageantry and star power after the brand’s recent efforts to retool its public image. Featuring Tookes in such a high-profile role could encourage other brands and designers to consider pregnant talent more regularly, not simply as a photo op but as part of casting equality. That may translate into practical shifts: different sample sizes, on-site medical and comfort accommodations during shows, and normalized expectations that pregnancy and professional modeling are not mutually exclusive. Whether the change is immediate or gradual, Tookes’s moment made a persuasive case for experimentation. 

Of course, moments like this live in two overlapping spaces: the runway and the internet. In the days after the show, essays, think pieces, and a flurry of commentary debated the stakes of Tookes’s appearance. For fans, the emotional impact was straightforward — celebration, pride, and admiration for a model who walked into the spotlight while nine months pregnant. For industry insiders and critics, the conversation was more technical and cautious, centered on what representation should look like in practice. Both responses matter: the emotional visibility motivates change, and the critical lens asks for accountability so that visibility becomes sustained, not performative. 

Ultimately, Jasmine Tookes’s walk at the 2025 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is likely to be remembered as one of those cultural flashpoints that both captures and propels a moment. It was an image that threaded together personal joy, brand theater, and a broader conversation about who belongs on the runway. Whether the industry will convert this moment into lasting shifts remains to be seen — but for now, Tookes’s confident, bump-forward stroll gave millions of viewers a powerful new image of pregnancy on stage: glamorous, unapologetic, and fully present.