DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · FASHION · VICTORIA’S SECRET
Key Facts
- —What happened Solange Omon, 21, won Victoria’s Secret’s Angels Among Us casting contest and was revealed as the brand’s newest Angel at its fashion show in Los Angeles on Sunday, 18 October.
- —Who she is Omon was born in Cameroon and lives in Maine, where she studied and worked for nonprofits helping Black and immigrant teenagers. She is not Dominican.
- —The Dominican angle Andreína Martínez, a former Miss Dominican Republic born in Santiago de los Caballeros, reached the final three but did not win. New York model Tatyana Tinsley was the third finalist.
- —The prize A walk in the 2026 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and an exclusive contract with IMG Models, a leading international modeling agency. The value of the contract has not been published.
- —Why it matters in the US Victoria’s Secret & Co. is an Ohio-based lingerie retailer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its chief executive named the contest among the campaigns behind its sales plans for the second half.
- —What comes next The last episode of the seven-part YouTube docuseries about the search airs on 22 November.
Solange Omon, a 21-year-old model born in Cameroon and living in Maine, won Victoria’s Secret’s Angels Among Us casting contest and was revealed as the brand’s newest Angel at its fashion show in Los Angeles on Sunday, 18 October. Andreína Martínez of the Dominican Republic, who was born in Santiago de los Caballeros and finished third at Miss Universe 2022, reached the final three but did not get the wings.
For American readers, the result caps an unusual bet by an Ohio-based, New York-listed retailer on a public casting call that drew more than 100,000 applicants and became a YouTube docuseries. Omon is Cameroonian by birth, not Dominican, so the Dominican stake in the result rests on Martínez, who was raised in New York.
What Happened in Los Angeles
The winner was announced live during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2026, staged at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, and streamed free on the brand’s YouTube channel from 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. Omon then made her runway debut in golden wings, in a show that also featured Gigi Hadid, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio.
On its VS Insider website, the company declared that “Solange is OFFICIALLY our newest Angel” and said it “loved seeing Tatyana and Andreína own the runway too.” Both runners-up walked in the show, and the brand has not published a ranking of the two.
Who Is Solange Omon
Omon was born in Cameroon and has lived, studied and worked in Maine, she told People magazine in an interview published after the show. Before modeling, she worked as a program coordinator at nonprofits, helping mostly Black and immigrant teenagers apply for jobs and teaching them about climate change.
Viewers of the series first met her at the casting in Chicago, where she earned a place in the top 10. “I was speechless,” she said of the call that moved her forward, adding that she decided on the spot to drive to her mother’s to share the news.
Hillary Super, chief executive of Victoria’s Secret & Co., told the magazine that Omon “has a spark that’s entirely her own.” Adam Selman, the group’s chief creative officer, said what made her stand out “wasn’t just her presence, it was her authenticity.”
The Dominican Finalist
Martínez was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic’s second city, and was raised in New York, where she studied psychology and Latin American studies. She won Miss Dominican Republic Universe in 2021 as the delegate of the Dominican community in the United States, but missed that year’s Miss Universe after contracting COVID-19.
She was sent to the next edition, Miss Universe 2022, held in New Orleans in January 2023, and finished as second runner-up, behind the winner from the United States and the first runner-up from Venezuela. The business magazine Revista Mercado had noted before the final that a win would have made her the first Dominican to hold the Angel title officially.
Before the result, she thanked her followers in a message quoted by the newspaper Hoy, writing that she was deeply grateful and already felt like an Angel. “I don’t know what is going to happen, but I know this is only the beginning,” she wrote, in the Spanish version Hoy published.
How Angels Among Us Worked
Victoria’s Secret opened the search on 1 April as an open casting across America, promising the winner a runway walk and an exclusive IMG Models contract. More than 100,000 hopefuls applied, and a team led by Selman held in-person castings in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and Chicago.
A top 10 then trained in New York with runway coaching, photo shoots and fittings, while models Gigi Hadid, Paloma Elsesser and Ashley Graham appeared as mentors and judges. Eliminations cut the group to Omon, Martínez and Tinsley, a model born and raised in New York with commercial and runway experience.
The process was filmed as a seven-episode YouTube docuseries produced with Boardwalk Pictures and directed by Nadia Hallgren, whose earlier work includes the documentary Becoming. Episodes have run on Sundays and Thursdays since 27 September, and the last one airs on 22 November, five weeks after the reveal.
What It Means for You
Victoria’s Secret & Co., based in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker VSXY, runs about 1,430 stores in roughly 70 countries. Its second-quarter net sales rose 10% to US$1.611 billion, and in September it raised its full-year sales forecast to between US$7.100 billion and US$7.180 billion.
Super named the Angels Among Us docuseries and a bigger fashion show among the campaigns meant to carry that momentum through the rest of the year. For investors, the contest is a test of whether a public casting call can win new customers, a question only the coming quarterly results can answer.
For viewers, the show and every episode of the series stream free on the brand’s YouTube channel. Selman has said the idea grew out of “thousands of DMs” after last year’s show from fans asking how they could become an Angel.
What Is Not Known
The value and length of Omon’s IMG Models contract have not been published, and the brand has not said whether she will appear in its advertising campaigns. Victoria’s Secret has also not released audience figures for the docuseries or the live stream.
It is not known whether the brand will offer Martínez or Tinsley further work after the show. Any effect of the contest on sales will only become visible in the group’s next quarterly results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won Victoria’s Secret Angels Among Us?
Solange Omon, a 21-year-old model born in Cameroon who lives in Maine, won on 18 October 2026. She was revealed as the newest Angel at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Los Angeles.
Is Solange Omon Dominican?
Solange Omon is not Dominican. She was born in Cameroon, and the Dominican finalist was Andreína Martínez, who reached the top three but did not win.
What does the winner of Angels Among Us get?
The winner walks in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and receives an exclusive contract with IMG Models. The terms of the contract have not been published.
Where can I watch Angels Among Us?
The seven-episode docuseries streams free on Victoria’s Secret’s YouTube channel. The final episode airs on 22 November.
Sources: Victoria’s Secret, VS Insider, winner announcement, 18 October 2026, Victoria’s Secret, open casting call, 1 April 2026, Victoria’s Secret press release, docuseries announcement, 18 August 2026, Victoria’s Secret press release, docuseries trailer and show date, 1 September 2026, Victoria’s Secret & Co., second-quarter 2026 results filed with the SEC, 3 September 2026, YouTube Official Blog, how to watch the 2026 show, 30 September 2026, Diario Libre, 18 October 2026, El Nacional, 18 October 2026, Hoy, 18 October 2026, El Día, 18 October 2026, De Último Minuto, 18 October 2026, Revista Mercado, profile of Andreína Martínez, 12 October 2026, Revista Mercado, prize and final, 13 October 2026, El Día, Martínez heads to Miss Universe, 4 January 2023, People, interview with Solange Omon, 19 October 2026, USA Today, show report, 19 October 2026, ¡Hola! USA, Andreína Martínez profile, 8 October 2026. All retrieved 19 October 2026.
Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error
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