Elina Gunawardena walks the Victoria’s Secret runway
Signed by a Sri Lankan agency at 14, she has walked in Paris and covered Vogue Netherlands. On Sunday in Los Angeles she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and Sri Lanka is calling her the first of its models to do it.
Some careers announce themselves slowly. Elina Gunawardena’s began in a Colombo agency at fourteen, because her older sisters had signed there first. Five years later, on Sunday 18 October, she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Los Angeles, a show streamed free to the world on YouTube.
Sri Lankan media, including the Daily News and Newswire, are celebrating her as the first Sri Lankan model to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway. Victoria’s Secret’s own press gallery and run of show confirm her place in it. She walked twice.
Check-in: a start at home
Her path began with Panthera Management in Sri Lanka, she told India’s t2 in April. Her sisters had joined the agency first, and Elina followed. Ford Models Paris soon took notice, and her first major shoot was a cover for Vogue Netherlands.
Through it all, she said, her mother came to her shoots and travelled with her to Paris, and she credits her agents in Sri Lanka, Paris and London, her sisters and above all her mother for guiding her.
Passport stamps: her runway so far
She has walked for houses including Hermès, Fendi, Emporio Armani and Max Mara. Her models.com profile lists more than 50 runway shows, among them the spring/summer 2027 collections of Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen and Simone Rocha. She is represented by The Lions in New York, Ford Models in Paris and Storm in London.
She has said she is proud to represent Sri Lanka. On Sunday she did it on one of fashion’s most watched stages, and she earned her place there the way every model does: show by show, client by client.
Transit MEL: Ayen Agany
One of the faces beside her came from Melbourne. Ayen Agany, an Australian-South Sudanese model scouted in Melbourne at 16, made her Victoria’s Secret debut on the same night. The official run of show puts her in the same two segments as Elina, Vintage Victoria and Autumn Changes. Before Los Angeles she had walked for Chanel and Rhode.
Photo: Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret
One career began in a Colombo agency, the other with a scout in Melbourne. On Sunday they met on the same runway, twice.
Her night, segment by segment
- Spring AwakeningPastel styles
- Vintage VictoriaCollector’s pieces reissued from the VS archivesElina · custom vintage VS tank, skirt and cardigan
- Summer FeverElectric looks
- PINK Halftime ShowMain-character energy
- Autumn ChangesRich pieces layered in romanticismElina · second walk
- Winter MelodySoft-as-snow looks
- Winter RepriseCrystal-encrusted finale
Segment order and descriptions from Victoria’s Secret’s official run of show and media kit.
This year’s show was built as a year in seven chapters, moving from spring pastels through summer, a PINK “halftime show” and autumn into two winter segments, ending in a crystal-covered finale. Elina’s first walk came in Vintage Victoria, where the brand reissued collector’s pieces from its own archive.
Each chapter had its own lead. Bella Hadid opened Spring Awakening, He Cong led Vintage Victoria, Gigi Hadid led Summer Fever, and footballer Trinity Rodman led the PINK halftime show. Vittoria Ceretti led Autumn Changes, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley led Winter Melody, and Kylie Jenner led out the Winter Reprise finale, which Adriana Lima closed.
Arrivals board: the same runway
In the Vintage Victoria segment Elina walked alongside Irina Shayk, Barbara Palvin and Precious Lee, and in Autumn Changes alongside Liu Wen, Elsa Hosk and Alex Consani. The music came from KATSEYE, Megan Moroney, Megan Thee Stallion and Tate McRae, and the show was created by Bureau Betak, with makeup led by Pat McGrath and hair by Guido Palau.
The headliners
Photos: Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret
Fellow passengers: South Asian talent on the runway
Elina was not the only model of South Asian heritage in the line-up. Each of them earned the booking on her own record.
Photos: Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret
Ravleen Varghese, from Kodumon in Kerala, made her debut and walked twice, once alongside Elina in Vintage Victoria. She moved to Delhi at 18 to study design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, and has since worked with Dior and Loewe. She once turned agencies down, she has said, because she doubted she belonged; now, in her words, modelling is “less about fitting into something and more about discovering parts of myself”.
Neelam Gill, the British model whose parents are from Punjab, walked the show for the third year running, in the Summer Fever segment. At 18 she became the first Indian model in a Burberry campaign.
Luna Yohannan, a New York model with Indian and Dominican heritage, returned for a second year and, like Ayen, shared both of Elina’s segments.
The music
Four acts performed live on the runway as the models walked around them.
Photos: Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret
KATSEYE, the global girl group, brought “Pinky Up” to the PINK halftime show. Tate McRae sang her new single “Housewife” in red, with angel wings of her own. Megan Moroney made it a country night for a few minutes, arriving in oversized pink wings. And Megan Thee Stallion carried the Winter Reprise finale with “Her” and “Body”, in silver wings among the show’s most famous faces.
Watch the show
Sources: Victoria’s Secret Press Room, Fashion Show 2026 runway gallery, official run of show and production credits; models.com; t2, 27 April 2026; Daily News; Newswire; RUSSH; DESIblitz (Ravleen Varghese); DESIblitz (Neelam Gill); Free Press Journal; Varnam (Luna Yohannan); Billboard on KATSEYE, Tate McRae and Megan Thee Stallion; Just Jared; Victoria’s Secret Press Room, musical guests gallery. Photos provided by Victoria’s Secret for editorial use.