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Madison Beer sent a bittersweet goodbye to her first set of Angel wings.
In a new interview with Davis Burleson for SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio, the singer, 26, revealed that the team had to design a new pair of wings after the first proved to be a too heavy for her headlining performance in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
“I had other wings that were giant and [weighed] 25 lbs. We played with them in rehearsals, and I was like, ‘They’re literally gorgeous, but I can’t perform in them. I’m going to hit a dancer off the platform, I’m so scared to this,’ ” she recalled.
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Beer said she “couldn’t walk” or “strut” in them either due to the weight.
So what did the designers do? “They were so lovely and they made me new ones the night before,” the singer detailed, adding that the new pair were not “heavy at all” and came at a delicate 5 lbs.
When asked if she was allowed to bring the wings home, Beer said the brand held onto them. “Now I’m forever a part of the Victoria’s Secret Angel Week archive,” she said, noting that she might be able to keep her bedazzled baby pink look. “So I’m going to put that in a box in glass and light it [up] in my house.”
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There might’ve been a slight hiccup in the lead-up to her debut, but Beer has nothing but fond memories of it. “It was so surreal and crazy. I’ve dreamed of doing this my whole life. I’ve been to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in the past and was like, ‘I would die to be a tree prop in the background of that stage,’ ” she told Burleson.
As much as the wings are anticipated for their iconic designs, the models wearing them have been open about the workout that goes into sporting them around.
Backstage at this year’s show, Alessandra Ambrosio remembered donning a 30-lb. pair of wings (the “heaviest wings” she recalled) while she was secretly six weeks pregnant with her son. This year, Bella Hadid was in charge of modeling a set that was a staggering 50 lbs.
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Meanwhile, Heidi Klum, who last appeared in the show in 2009, always wanted to go big or go home. “I was super appreciative that they would pick me instead of someone else. People would say, ‘Oh, and they made us wear these wings, and da-da-da.’ I’m like, ‘I always wanted the wings.’ And I was upset if I didn’t get the biggest ones!” she said in her Fall 2023 People Style Watch cover story.
“I would go to the top, and I’d be like, ‘Why am I having these small wings? I want bigger wings.’ Because for me it was always like a moment; this is the VS show. Everyone is watching,” Klum continued. “I don’t want little chicken wings. I want the biggest wings you could possibly have, and I wore them proudly.”
