Model of the Year
The same week a $50M Fantasy Bra and a casting snub set the internet on fire, LA’s independent runway crowned its own. Emily Sophie Christine is first runner-up and Kyla Dodds is second runner-up, behind Nightlife Report’s Model of the Year, Ava Kortman. Emily tells us, in her own words, why she was “never meant to fit into a frame someone else had created.”
By Anthony Perlas · Nightlife Report · Thu Oct 22, 2026
The internet spent the weekend arguing about who deserves a runway. On Sunday, Oct 18, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show filmed at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. More than 3 million people watched live (The Publish Press). Within hours the conversation turned into a fight. Kylie Jenner wore the $50M Jacob & Co. Fantasy Bra, the first non-Angel to do so, and fans called it “UNACCEPTABLE” (Daily Mail). Former VS walker Romee Strijd posted her casting rejection, and boycott calls followed (Fashion Times). Then came a nepo-baby casting row (Daily Beast).
A few miles north, two nights earlier, LA’s independent runway had already made its picks. Nothing here ties these models to Victoria’s Secret, and we’re not claiming anything does. But the question everyone is suddenly asking, who gets to be seen, is the one this list answers.
The board:
- Model of the Year 2026 (Nightlife Report pick, published Oct 17): Ava Kortman (@avakortman)
- First runner-up: Emily Sophie Christine (@emilysophiechristine)
- Second runner-up: Kyla Dodds (@kyla.doddsss)
- Runner-up placements per Anthony Perlas on Instagram (@lillithmagic).
Rankings are our editorial view, not official Bureau results.
Emily Sophie Christine, in her own words
Emily walked twice at Bureau Los Angeles Fashion Week: for Sewreffic during “The Opening” on Friday, Oct 16, and for Hey Sis! I Got You! on Saturday. Her public book includes a walk for Runway 7 Fashion (Barbizon Insider, Feb 2026, via Nightlife Report). She answered Nightlife Report’s questionnaire in writing on Oct 21. Everything below is exactly as she wrote it.
On who she is:
“I see myself as an ancient Egyptian pyramid: something people are drawn to admire from the outside, yet few ever truly understand what lies within. Like these monuments that have stood for thousands of years through the harshest elements of time, I carry a depth of history, resilience, and untold stories beneath my surface and somehow, I continue to stand as though the storms never came.”
On why she chose this path:
“I don’t think there was ever one particular moment that made me choose this path; I think it was a lifetime of feeling like the outsider in every room I entered. I spent so much of my life searching for a place where I belonged that eventually, I began creating one through the very thing that made me feel different. Modeling and acting became more than a career to me; they became a language for everything I never knew how to say, a way to give a face to the parts of myself the world had never taken the time to understand. Perhaps I was never meant to fit into a frame someone else had created for me. Perhaps I was meant to stand in front of the camera and tell stories that remind other people what it feels like to be misunderstood, to be different, and still to be worthy of being seen.”
On her favorite moment, which didn’t happen on the runway:
“Some of my favorite moments happened away from the runway, particularly the unexpected connection made over dinner in Los Angeles at Laurel Hardware. I think there is something beautiful about meeting someone as a stranger and discovering, over a conversation, that there is an entire world behind the person sitting across from you. In an industry where so much is carefully curated, I find the unplanned moments the most revealing.”
On what people get wrong about modeling. This is the line that lands hardest in a week of VS casting fights:
“I think people often mistake an industry built around appearance for one built around vanity. Whenever I tell people I model and act, they assume it must be an emotionally draining environment filled with self-centered people, when my experience has often been the opposite. I’ve found that when you surround yourself with people who are comfortable in their own individuality, there is less of a need to diminish anyone else’s. My most genuine friendships have come from modeling, because there is something uniquely beautiful about being surrounded by people who each have the courage to be seen, yet can still appreciate that same light in someone else. I think people underestimate how much confidence can create community rather than competition.”
On what’s next: law school, film, and faith:
“I don’t know exactly what I’m building next, and I think there is something liberating about that. I know I am pursuing law, continue working in film and modeling, and creating a life that reflects the full depth of who I am. Beyond that, I’m leaving room for the unexpected—for the places I’ll go, the people I’ll meet, and the kind of love that might find me when I’m busy becoming myself. I don’t need to know how the entire story ends because I know the director; He has it written, and I have to act it out.”
Ava Kortman: still Model of the Year
Ava Kortman (@avakortman) walked for Krown Kink, the label from designer Casey Lee Parker. Nightlife Report named her Model of the Event and our Model of the Year 2026 (Nightlife Report). Off our runway, Miami Living Magazine credited her as a model for Star Mother Swimwear. Her agency is unconfirmed, so we’re not naming one.
Kyla Dodds: second runner-up
Kyla Dodds (@kyla.doddsss) walked for Krissy King. Her public book includes a New York Fashion Week runway in 2023, per Tabloid Nation (via Nightlife Report).
Why this matters this week
Victoria’s Secret is winning on numbers. Its YouTube stream is near 31 million views (ViralShooter), and #vsfs2026 searches jumped 2,633% (Nightlife Report). But the loudest replies are about fairness. Who gets cast? Who gets the bra? Who gets turned away? Viewers even called some looks “cheap” and the wings “tacky” (Fashion Times).
Emily put it in one sentence before any of this blew up: “I think people underestimate how much confidence can create community rather than competition.”
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