Who are the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Angels? From Taylor Hill to Stella Maxwell, here’s everything you need to know
ALTHOUGH there are plenty of stunning Victoria's Secret Angel models, the majority cannot claim Angel status.
At the moment, only 14 models have been bestowed with the honour of being a VS Angel, here's all you need to know...
What is the difference between a Victoria's Secret Model and Angel?
In this year's fashion show, there were 49 models who graced the runway, and a lot wore wings.
It can be rather confusing for those who don't know it already, but wings don't equal Angel status.
Kendall Jenner and the Hadid sisters are often mistaken for being Angels, however they are just models.
There are only 14 current Angels, and there's only ever been 36 models in history who have signed a contract to be an official face of the brand - these are the Angels.
Those who have signed the special VS contract have certain obligations to the brand that other runway models might not, and are expected to give Victoria's Secret priority.
Ex-Angels such as Karlie Kloss, Miranda Kerr and Doutzer Kroes have all left their roles as Angels to pursue other opportunities.
Kerr that the contract is pretty intense, promising three months of work a year to VS at a bare minimum.
Who are the Victoria's Secret Angels?
Adriana Lima, 37
Brazilian Adriana is the longest serving Angel, having worked for VS for 18 years.
After walking her first show in 1999 at the tender age of 18, she was signed in 2000 as an official Angel, and has since opened the annual show in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
The mother-of-two has been named the most valuable Victoria's Secret model in history.
Since 2014 she has consistently been one of the world's highest-paid models, only beaten by Gisele Bundchen, Kendall Jenner and Chrissy Tiegen.
With a reported $10.5m of earnings in 2017 alone, she is definitely not short on cash.
Lima speaks four languages, and is of Portugese, Swiss, Brazilian, African, Japanese and West Indian ancestry.
At the 2018 VS fashion show, she confirmed that it was her last VS runway walk and broke down whilst closing the show.
Alessandra Ambrosio, 37
Alessandra walked her last show for Victoria's Secret in 2017, but she is still considered an Angel.
Modelling since the age of 12, the Brazilian beauty also signed her VS contract in 2000, and has walked 17 shows since.
She was chosen as the first spokesmodel for Victoria's Secret PINK in 2006, and has had a lot of defining catwalk moments for the brand.
In 2005, Alessandra walked the VS show in lingerie made entirely of sweets, and she walked the 2008 show only three months after giving birth to her first child.
While pregnant with her second child, she walked the 2011 show with the heaviest wings ever made (30lbs).
Ambrosio has been chosen to don the coveted Fantasy Bra twice, in 2012 and in 2014.
Behati Prinsloo, 30
Namibian Behati was the first PINK contract model, when she was signed in 2008.
Having walked 10 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows, she opened the shows in 2014 and again in 2015.
The 30-year-old was signed as an official VS Angel in 2009, and designed the Behati Loves Pink swimsuit collection for VS in 2010.
After a two year maternity leave, popping out two children in that time with husband Adam Levine, the African model returned to the catwalk for the 2018 show.
Candice Swanepoel, 30
Thirty-year-old Candice Swanepoel has been among the top 10 highest earning models consistently since 2010, the year she became a VS Angel.
In 2013, the mother-of-two was selected to wear the Fantasy Bra, which was worth $10million that year.
It featured over 4,200 precious gems, including rubies, diamonds and yellow sapphires set in 18 carat gold with a 52 carat ruby in the centre.
The South African native is fluent in Afrikaans, English and Portugese, and has two sons with her boyfriend of 13 years, Hermann Nicoli.
Lily Aldridge, 32
American Lily started her career at the age of 16, modelling for Abercrombie & Fitch.
Her mother is ex-Playboy Playmate Laura Lyons, and her entire family have always been very fashion-orientated.
Her sisters Saffron and Ruby are also models, and her brother Miles is a fashion photographer.
Aldridge walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2009, and was signed as an Angel in 2010.
In 2015, she wore the Fireworks Fantasy Bra, which was estimated to be worth $2,000,000.
She is also known for her work as a Sports Illustrated model, debuting in 2014 alongside Chrissy Teigen and Nina Agdal for the issue's 50th anniversary cover.
Elsa Hosk, 30
Swedish Elsa hails from Stockholm, and has worked with brands such as Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Guess and H&M.
She has walked for the VS shows since 2011, and was signed as an Angel in 2015.
Hosk opened the show in 2016, and was chosen to wear the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra in the 2018 fashion show.
She has been compared to the Disney character, Queen Elsa from Frozen, although she denies the character was made in her image, despite undeniable similarities and the same name.
The thirty-year-old does a lot of work in support of the anti-human-trafficking organisation FAIR Girls.
Jasmine Tookes, 27
Californian Jasmine has been modelling since the age of 15, and her eight-year-old sister is also a model.
Tookes is of African, Central American and British descent, but was born and raised in Huntington Beach.
In 2012, she was one of eleven new models to be selected for the annual VS Fashion Show.
She was also signed to the brand in 2015, and has since walked for Burberry, Moschino, DKNY, Herve Leger, Jason Wu, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, Prada, Miu Miu and more.
In the 2016 show, Jasmine was the Angel who donned the Fantasy Bra.
Josephine Skriver, 25
Danish model Josephine is only 25 but has modelled for pretty much everyone and appeared on the cover of some of the world's biggest magazines.
Born in Copenhagen, Skriver was conceived via IVF, to a gay father and a lesbian mother, who each had their own partners but chose to have two children together.
She has done a lot of work for the LGBTQ+ community, and has spoken openly of her unique upbringing stating that she didn't think she was different "until I started school and people told me I was different and told me I was weird."
She added: "But I was such a proud kid that no one ever really bullied me."
In 2016, Josephine was signed as an Angel, after walking in every VS show since 2013.
She lives in Tennessee with her boyfriend, musician Alexander DeLeon.
Lais Ribero, 28
A mother to a nine-year-old son, Lais Ribero only started working as a model after his birth.
Starting off modelling in Brazil, her career took off and in a year she was walking the runway for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Versace and more.
In 2010 she walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and has walked every year apart from 2012, which she had to pull out of due to an ankle sprain during rehearsals.
In 2015, she was named an Angel alongside a number of the other currents.
Lais wore the Fantasy Bra in 2017, when the show was held in Shanghai, China.
Martha Hunt, 29
American Martha comes from Wilson in North Carolina.
She was discovered by a photographer from her state, who introduced her to agencies in New York, and she was immediately signed by IMG Models.
In 2013 she walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, although she had previously modelled for shoots for the brand.
She was another one of the 2015 Angel signings.
Romee Strijd, 23
Romee is one of the youngest Victoria's Secret Angels and is from the Netherlands.
Also signed in 2015, Strijd only started modelling in 2011 when she was signed with DNA Model Management.
Since then, she has appeared in editorials for British, German, Spanish and Dutch Vogue, French and Dutch Elle, Spanish Harper's Bazaar, Dutch Marie Claire and French Madame Figaro.
In 2014 she was chosen as one of the newcomers at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and she was signed to them less than a year later.
She is now represented by IMG Models, since March 2017.
Sara Sampaio, 27
Discovered at the tender age 15, Sara had big dreams of becoming a Victoria's Secret model.
After two failed auditions to walk in the Fashion Show, she was chosen in 2013, where she walked in one segment.
This increased to two segments in 2014, and she was signed as one of the new Angels in 2015.
The Portugese model is an ambassador for Moroccanoil, and is the face of Si Passione by Georgio Armani.
Sara has also done some acting work, and starred in Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber's music videos.
Stella Maxwell, 28
Belgium-born Northern Irish model Stella was another one of Victoria's Secret's 2015 Angel signings.
Stella lived in Belgium with her Northern Irish parents until the age of 13, then moved to Australia for a year, before ending in New Zealand, which has given her a very unique accent.
She is also known for being the face of cosmetics company Max Factor, and has been dating Twilight actress Kristen Stewart on and off since 2016.
Her first show for Victoria's Secret was in 2014, and by 2015 she was a certified Angel.
Taylor Hill, 22
The youngest of the Angels, Taylor is only 22 years old.
She was discovered at age 14, and modelled for Forever 21 since 2013.
In 2014 she first walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and was the youngest model on their rotation.
MORE VICTORIA'S SECRET
After being voted 2015's Most Promising Model by Couturesque readers, she was soon made into an Angel by VS.
Hill has over 3.6 million followers on Instagram, making her one of the world's most followed models.
She opened the 2018 Fashion Show.
