The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has become the pinnacle of fashion world events. As a result, gaining a spot on that runway is incredibly difficult. Only a few dozen women are selected from a pool of hundreds of veteran models and newcomers.
Because so few are selected, it’s not uncommon for models to get rejected at one point or another only to try again. Being rejected by Victoria’s Secret for the Fashion Show has even happened to some of the most famous models, like Bella Hadid, who didn’t make the cut in 2015. She later said that “everything happens for a reason.”
Likewise, Gigi Hadid, failed to get the job in 2014. Gigi told Live with Kelly and Michael that what held her back that year was how “genuinely nervous” she was. “I can’t tell you how scary it is walking into that room, it is so scary,” she said, according to Harpers Bazaar.
Sara Sampaio, now an Angel, didn’t get the gig right away either. She failed the first two times, which she said was “like a knife” and that she really started “doubting herself.” But the third time, according to Harpers, she thought “I’m not giving them any excuse not to pick me.”
Bridget Malcolm, an Aussie model, also auditioned twice before she made it, the first year because she “wasn’t in good enough shape” and the second year because she wasn’t “confident enough.”
Jasmine Tookes tried out for the first time at 18 and failed. She explained, according to Harpers, that she didn’t take it personally because “I knew I just needed to grow up a bit more.”
Elyse Taylor once told Vogue Australia, “I think it means more when you are rejected and then you do get it. And so many girls go year after year and they don’t get it and put so much work into it for nothing. I mean it’s quite shattering and I’ve spoken to girls that are devastated, just crying.”
But these girls made it, and in honor of that, you can see them strut their stuff in next Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in November.
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