The Victoria Secret Fashion Show was the talk of the internet on the night of Oct. 15, due to the brand’s first show since coming back from its six-year hiatus.
Big name stars participated in the event, which took place in Brooklyn. Models Bella, Gigi Hadid and Claudia Schiffer walked the runway while singers like Tyla and Cher supported the show with their performances.
But one other person who sparked many conversations and posts on Tuesday evening was former model and talk show host Tyra Banks.
Banks, who is Victoria Secret’s first Black contract model, closed out the show with her powerful catwalk and infamous smizing facial expressions. Wearing her hair in a big blownout style, the 50-year-old was dressed in an all black glitttery jumpsuit with a silver and black patterned corset around her waist.
She also had a silver patterned cape on which she threw around her body towards the end of the runway.
The mother of one got her flowers after the show from fans praising her. One person said, “THEE model! Her feet look like they were fighting, but she ate nonetheless.”
Another wrote, “Tyra Banks making her iconic return to the Victoria’s Secret runway after 19 years is the ultimate reminder that true queens never lose their crown. Timeless, powerful, and breaking boundaries yet again!”
But some viewers reminiscing on the past took a few jabs after noticing Bank’s figure is not as small as it used to be. Many referenced her show “America’s Next Top Model,” where she and other notable judges from the fashion industry would make comments on women who were over a certain size, claiming that they were “full figured” or “plus size.”
“The fact that Tyra Banks spent all those years tearing girls apart just to walk across the stage as plus-sized,” said one critic. Another wrote, “Tyra made a career out of telling people they weren’t ‘skinny enough’ to be models.. now look.”
A 2007 clip of Banks’ viral moment on her daytime talk show where she once clapped back at her body shamers also resurfaced amid discussions of the fashion show.
In the clip, Banks showed a photo that was taken of her at the beach by paparazzi which resulted in critics making fun of her weight.
Talking to her audience and the camera, Banks thanks her mother for helping her overcome all of the negative things said about her appearance.
She then delivers an emotional message directly to her critics, saying, “To all of you that have something nasty to say about me or other women who are built like me, women whose names you know, women whose names you don’t, women who’ve been picked on, women whose husbands put them down, women at work or girls in school, I have one thing to say to you: kiss my fat ass.”
Banks retired from the runway in 2005 so she could pursue her career in television. Last month, in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she opened up about coming out of retirement to walk the runway for Victoria Secret once again.
“It’s a little bit of an out-of-body experience,” she said. “I walked off that runway and I [had] this big retirement and it was such a spectacle. I felt like that athlete that’s like, ‘I’m hanging up my cleats … I’m retiring the basketball.’ And then, now I’m back! I never in a million years thought that I would be back on the runway, but I am so beyond excited and so ready for this.”