Barbara Palvin

The first Hungarian Victoria's Secret Angel was Barbara Palvin, a model born in Budapest in 1993, who received the title in 2019 and held it until the brand retired its Angels in 2021. Her lingerie record is short and oddly spaced: a Fashion Show in 2012, a second in 2018, then wings just as the show itself went dark.

Spotted at 13 in Budapest

Palvin was discovered at 13 by a scout who saw her on a Budapest street. Her first editorial, for the German magazine Spur, followed in 2006. In February 2010 she made her runway debut for Prada at Milan Fashion Week, and she was later signed by Ford Models in New York, Mirah Management in Paris and Icon Management at home in Budapest.

Barbara Palvin's first lingerie runway, 2012

The year 2012 brought two contracts that shaped the rest of her career. In February she became a L'Oreal Paris ambassador. Later that year she walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the first time, at 19. She did not return to that runway for six years, and in between she worked mostly in beauty and fashion advertising, with campaigns for Armani Exchange, H&M and Pull & Bear.

Swimwear in 2016

Her swimwear credit is Sports Illustrated. She joined the magazine's Swimsuit Issue as part of its 2016 rookie class. An older version of this page put her first Swimsuit Issue at age 16, which does not match the record: she was 22.

Wings in 2019

Palvin walked the Victoria's Secret show again in 2018, the last edition broadcast on network television. In 2019 the company made her an Angel, the first from Hungary, and in the same year she became an ambassador for Armani Beauty.

The timing was poor. In November 2019 Victoria's Secret canceled the televised show. Two years later it ended the Angel program altogether and replaced it with the VS Collective, a group of spokeswomen that included Valentina Sampaio. Palvin and the other remaining Angels, among them Sara Sampaio, lost the title along with everyone else. Palvin had held it for about two years and never walked a show as an Angel.

The relaunch

When Victoria's Secret brought its runway back in 2024, Palvin was in the lineup, and she walked again in 2025. In 2024 she also became an ambassador for the Swiss watchmaker Longines.

Her film credits are small. She played Antimache in Hercules (2014) and appeared in Tyger Tyger (2021). The lingerie record is the one this museum keeps: two shows in the network years, two in the relaunch, and an Angel title that existed mostly on paper.

Last updated October 7, 2026