Indian model Ravleen Varghese walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Sunday, appearing at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Los Angeles, in the brand's third runway event since its 2024 revival.
Varghese, who was born in Kodumon in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district and trained as a design student in Delhi, was photographed on the runway and alongside models Luíza Perote and Malika El Maslouhi, according to Firstpost. India Today, which also reported the debut, noted the moment has drawn attention to her path from Kerala to the international fashion circuit.
The show streamed free on YouTube and the brand's social channels from 4.30pm Pacific time on Sunday, which was 5am Monday in India. Katseye, Megan Thee Stallion and Tate McRae performed, and Kylie Jenner made a surprise appearance.
From design school to the international runway
Modelling was never part of Varghese's childhood ambitions. She told The Nod it “felt too far-fetched” while she was growing up. Anima Creatives scouted her at 18, shortly after she moved to Delhi to study design at NIFT Delhi, where her portfolio shows a growing interest in styling and image-making.
She has said she turned down several agencies early on because she “didn't believe I could exist in that space.” Her mother agency, Anima, still represents her, and Next Management lists her on its Paris and Los Angeles boards. Onmanorama reported in 2024 that Next brought her to New York Fashion Week.
Her international career is recent. She named Prabal Gurung's spring/summer 2025 show at New York Fashion Week as her Big Four debut, and she has walked for Bach Mai in New York, most recently for spring/summer 2026. She recalled that Bach Mai's team made her a red corseted dress that framed her “Indian hips,” her words, and that she felt like royalty in it.
A show rebuilt after scandal
Varghese's debut lands on a runway that has been through a profound reckoning. In February 2020, The New York Times published an investigation based on interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, plus court filings. It reported a culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment at the company under L Brands.
Interviewees said Ed Razek, then chief marketing officer, tried to kiss models, asked them to sit on his lap and, in one case, touched a model without her consent before the 2018 show. Executives said the company's then chief executive, Leslie Wexner, was told and nothing changed. Razek called the accusations “categorically untrue, misconstrued or taken out of context.” The company did not dispute the reporting and said it had since adopted stronger anti-harassment policies, hotline reporting and training.
Models had already been pushing back before the investigation. In August 2019, more than 100 of them, including Christy Turlington Burns and Edie Campbell, signed an open letter to then chief executive John Mehas asking him to protect models from sexual harassment and assault. Razek left the company that month, after his 2018 remarks to Vogue that he did not think transgender or plus-size models belonged in the show drew wide criticism. The show did not return until 2024.
What the 2026 lineup says about the brand now
This year's casting tells a different story from the Razek era. The lineup included Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser and Alex Consani, a plus-size model and a transgender model in the kind of roles the brand's former marketing chief once said it would not feature. WWD reported from backstage at the 2026 show, where Varghese was photographed getting her glam done with half of her inky hair in rollers.
The women who set the show's pace for two decades walked alongside a new generation. Adriana Lima appeared in her 21st year on the VS runway, and Alessandra Ambrosio made her 20th appearance. Natalia Bryant, daughter of the late Kobe Bryant, and footballer Trinity Rodman were among the newer names. Barbara Palvin walked a month after giving birth to her first child, and Elsa Hosk returned after welcoming a new addition to her family.
Solange Omon, from Cameroon, won the docuseries Angels Among Us and earned Angel wings and an IMG Models contract. The show also moved from New York to Los Angeles this year, its third edition since the comeback.
Why the moment matters beyond the runway
For a brand that once marketed an unattainable and exclusionary ideal of femininity, the presence of a Kerala-born model who once doubted she belonged in the industry is a small but telling marker of change. Varghese's own account of refusing agencies because she did not believe she could exist in that space speaks to the barriers that models from outside the traditional fashion capitals have long faced.
Her dual position, a design student with a growing interest in styling and image-making as well as a model, also points to a broader shift in how the industry treats its talent: as creators rather than mannequins. The reforms the company says it has adopted, from anti-harassment training to hotline reporting, remain works in progress that models and advocates will continue to test against lived experience.
Whether the reformed show can hold a cultural grip it once commanded is still an open question. What is no longer in dispute is that the runway now looks different, and that models such as Varghese, who once thought the space was not for her, are walking in it.
FAQ
Who is Ravleen Varghese?
Ravleen Varghese is a model from Kodumon in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, India, scouted at 18 while studying design at NIFT Delhi. She is represented by Next Management in Paris and Los Angeles and by Anima Creatives as her mother agency.
When did Ravleen Varghese make her Victoria's Secret debut?
She walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Los Angeles. It was the brand's third show since its 2024 revival.
Why did Victoria's Secret cancel its fashion show?
The show did not return after 2018 following criticism of former marketing chief Ed Razek's remarks about transgender and plus-size models, a 2019 open letter from more than 100 models demanding protection from harassment, and a 2020 New York Times investigation reporting a culture of misogyny and harassment at the company.