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Supermodel Strut
aka: Sexy Walk

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She takes the cat walk with her.

Just the way she walked was illegal in thirty-seven States.

Sometimes being sexy isn't just about the way you look, but the way you move. Supermodels in Fashion Shows have found ways of walking on the catwalk that draw attention to their clothes and bodies. Over time, these types of walks, sashays, saunters, or struts have been used in media in ways unrelated to modeling.

The most common way a person can do a Supermodel Strut is to keep their head up, push back their shoulders, have their hips swivel from side-to-side and move while placing one foot directly in front of the other, invoking an air of confidence and purpose. There are variants that achieve a slightly different meaning, such as moving in a slower sashay for a more laid-back and coquettish effect or a faster stomp to appear more assertive and predatory.

While the walk can be done by anyone, this trope tends to be more common with female characters. Since Men Are Tough, males trying to look sexy as they walk tend to concentrate on looking imposing and powerful. Instead of sashaying with their hips and legs, men focus more on a confident straight strut, with their shoulders doing most of the work by swaying back and forth. If a male character does sashay as a female does, it's usually a sign that they're Camp Straight, Camp Gay or In Touch with His Feminine Side.

Camera tricks may also be employed to give the walk even more emphasis, such as Slow Motion or Male Gaze shots of the character's body, usually their hips and legs. Reaction Shots from onlookers can also occur, such as having people turning their heads to start Eating the Eye Candy through a Crush Filter as the characters strut past them. Playing sexy music such as the Sexophone in the background can emphasise the Fanservice aspects of the walk. Doing a gratuitous Hair Flip can also help. While supermodels often end their struts in the catwalks by striking a Contrapposto Pose or Head-and-Hip Pose, this is typically not done by characters unless they are specifically trying to invoke modeling.

Since a Supermodel Strut isn't a natural gait, this is usually done to illustrate that a character is a Proud Beauty, who's sexually confident and body positive. You can be sure characters like the Ms. Fanservice, The Tease, or The Vamp will move like this. Sometimes media will exaggerate and portray a character as always walking in this fashion, even subconsciously, to demonstrate how supernaturally "sexual" they are, such as a Love Goddess, a Sexbot, or a Succubus. But commonly a character will employ this type of walk for just a moment, to make a grand or sexy entrance or maybe in an attempt to seduce or distract someone they know is watching, such as a Femme Fatale making her way to a target. A character who doesn't have great confidence trying to walk in this manner will usually fail to do so, likely tripping and embarrassing themselves, often resulting in Femininity Failure.

This is often used as part of a Head-Turning Beauty introduction or a part of a Walk This Way gag. A character in Acquired Situational Narcissism may start to walk in such a manner in order to illustrate their new state of mind. If a videogame character walks like this, it's to invoke Third-Person Seductress. Also related to Feet-First Introduction, High-Heel Power, Leg Focus, Shaking the Rump, or a walking version of Streaking. Contrast with Silly Walk, Team Power Walk, and Unflinching Walk.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • One commercial for Pepsodent Toothpaste from the 1950s showed a teenage girl, Suzy Q, strutting down the street in this manner with her hands on her hips. She attracts the interest of two teenage boys, although it's not because of how she walks, but because of her big smile; hence, the advertised product.

    Anime & Manga 

    Comedy 
  • In the second Blue Collar Comedy Tour movie, Jeff Foxworthy talks about meeting a women with a very backside in very tight jeans who did it on purpose. He wondered what would happen when she took off her pants and worried about her hitting a small child with those swings.

    Fan Works 
  • Anchor Foal: One of Fleur's first tasks for Fluttershy is teaching her this trope (in a chapter titled "She's From The Ministry Of Sexy Walks"), and un-teaching her Photo Finish's version:
    "Your idea of a sexy walk is to move," Fleur tensely said, "like a model."
    "...oh."
    "That's not a compliment. Models are supposed to be aloof. Mysterious. Unapproachable." So it was actually worse than having to merely teach her from the ground up: there were now things to unlearn —
    — Fleur blinked.
    "Do that again."
    The hesitation on the next sentence might have been natural coming from anypony. "...what?"
    "That walk."
    "...but you said —"
    "— do it."
    Fluttershy complied. And Fleur, who knew her charge had been taught that little hip-hitch by the only pony in the world who thought it was good for anything and somehow hadn't been kicked to death because of it or anything else, groaned.
  • Glorious Shotgun Princess: Miranda and Liara decide to teach Jane Shepard how to strut. They rope Tali into helping, because her swaying hips became infamous on the first Normandy. She insists that she is not doing it on purpose... and demonstrates by showing what her intentional sexy walk looks like. She promptly causes a car accident.
    Jane: [to Miranda] How is it my little sister analogue manages to do this better than you?
  • In Harry Potter and the Annotated Story: The Philosopher's Stone Briallen convinces Fred and George to prank a few worthy male individuals by using a modified dancing spell to make them walk like this.
  • In The Night The House of Cards Was Built, Anko bets both herself and Kurenai in a High-Stakes Poker Game, and are promptly won by Naruto. Later on, when Kurenai leaves for the kitchen, she makes a point of "rolling her hips as she walks" to remind the other men who are playing of what they failed to get.
  • In The Night Unfurls, Shani slowly walks towards Kyril with a little sway in the hips as she convinces him, a tired individual, to "relax". Kyril is unfazed by this.
  • Only One Year: Alternate: Esmeralda walks like this by habit. Anna finds it annoyingly distracting.

    Films — Animation 
  • Frozen:
    • Frozen: Elsa struts towards her ice castle balcony at the climax of "Let It Go". This was partly meant to be symbolic of her finding self-confidence (why she also spreads her arms proudly), and partly because it looks good with her brand new, slinky Pimped-Out Dress.
    • Frozen II: While playing charades, Olaf imitates her walk to get "Elsa" across.
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks:
    • The Dazzlings from the movie are sirens who, during the cafeteria scene, augment their song with some generous hip swaying. This is their default mode of walking, and even when standing still they tend to sway in place alluringly.
    • Rarity seriously shake her hips on leaving her boutique in the short "Life Is a Runway". And all of her impromptu models too, once on the runway. Of course, that's how fashion models are supposed to move.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Jessica Rabbit walks in a suggestive way in general. It's best demonstrated during her stage performance in the Ink and Paint Club. The entire audience, even the hard-boiled Eddie Valiant, is mesmerized.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • In The Aeneid, Aeneas recognizes Venus in disguise "By her stride". Kind of awkward, seeing as she's his mother.
  • Discworld: Adora Belle Dearheart can walk "like a snake trying to sashay".
  • In My Sister, the Serial Killer, Korede has a crush on Tade, the doctor she works with. She tries to invoke a Supermodel Strut, hoping to impress him. Instead, he mistakes her "sexy" walk for a medical issue and asks her about it, to her embarrassment.
  • In Rally Round the Flag, Boys!, Comfort Goodpasture, to her father's distress, learns to walk like Marilyn Monroe even before she becomes interested in boys.
  • In the French police novels series San-Antonio, a sexy woman walking by is sometimes described as "trying to write some calculation with her ass, the like of 'I put down 8 and carry over 1'...".
  • In the Trigger Argee stories (part of the Federation of the Hub series), Argee apparently has a sexy walk; one person even mentions that it's known among her friends as "the Argee lilt" (referring to the motion of her hips). This is plot-relevant when other characters are trying to find a convincing body double for her.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire: Jaime Lannister might only have eyes for Cersei, but when Taena Merryweather walks away, even he can't help but stare.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Angel: In "Ground State", Gwen makes her entrance into the restaurant to meet her client while doing a sexy walk to his table, while also wearing a red skintight Hell-Bent for Leather midriff-baring outfit that makes every man in the room gape at her. Her client is actually less than pleased, as he wanted a discreet meeting.
  • Battlestar Galactica (2003): The first time the audience sees a humanoid Cylon is when a Number Six walks into Armistice Station, strides across the room, and kisses the human solider stationed there. The Six line is played by Tricia Helfer who was a professional model before she went into acting, so she knows exactly how to do this kind of walk.
  • Castle: In "To Love and Die in L.A.", has a scene with Kate (Stana Katic) doing a Sexy Surfacing Shot from a pool and then sexy walking in Slow Motion in her swimsuit past the Villain of the Week to get his attention, though the undercover Castle also gets Distracted by the Sexy.
  • Dark Matter (2015): The men on the ship are well aware of Two's Supermodel Strut (that's only accentuated by her twin thigh holsters and midriff-baring outfit). In the second episode she's walking away from One and without turning round tells him to "stop staring at my ass."
  • Discussed in Dinosaurs. Charlene asks her mother Fran if she should swing her tail or not when she walks. Fran says no, good girls don't do that. Then Grandma Ethel butts in, advising Charlene to "swing it a little bit" until she lands a husband, "then put it away."
  • In "Doctor Who" Lady Cassandra tends to walk in this fashion after snatching Rose Tyler's body. Her confident strut is a sign of her own vanity and how she is more willing to exploit her sexuality when compared to Rose.
  • Ginger on Gilligan's Island walks in a suggestive manner. Played for laughs on the episode where one of the male cast needed to dress up as Ginger (It Makes Sense in Context), and they had to see which one of them could do the best sexy walk.
  • In an episode of I Love Lucy, Lucy walks with an exaggerated strut as part of an attempt to convince Ernest Ford she was a sinful city woman and he should go home. Ernest says "You have a hitch-up in your get-along."
  • In an episode of Matlock, Matlock's law partner Michelle bets she can use her sexuality to get some tickets from Matlock. She does a sexy walk, he notices, asks her to repeat it, and when she does, references the I Love Lucy episode and quotes Ernest.
  • Red Dwarf:
  • Smallville: In "Nicodemus", Lana gets infected with the Nicodemus plant and becomes Not Herself. The next day, she arrives at school wearing a Stripperiffic black miniskirt and boots and struts sultrily through the school hallway, while every boy stares.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Kira's Mirror Universe Evil Counterpart, particularly noticeable in "Resurrection" when she dresses up like Major Kira to pull a heist, and the only means of telling them apart is Mirror Kira's vampish walk.
  • Teen Wolf: In "The Benefactor", Kira walks flirtatiously down a set of stairs towards Liam — but it gets Playedfor Laughs when she loses her balance and falls right in front of him.
  • In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Summer Glau carefully and intentionally gave Cameron a sexy walk. It should be noted that Cameron, being a Robot Girl, plays this up when she calculates that doing so will help her get what she wants.
  • In season 3 of Twin Peaks, the FBI take along the attractive Agent Tammy Preston when they go see the Coopelganger in prison. Afterwards her boss Gordon tells her to go wait in the diner so he can have a private talk with his colleague Albert in the parking lot. She does a very sultry walk, which doesn't go unnoticed.
    Albert: I'm feeling better now.
  • The X-Files: Played for Laughs in "First-Person Shooter". Mulder is interrogating a stripper. When she leaves, Mulder leans sideways to check her out as she walks down the corridor. Scully, with an amused look on her face, leans sideways to block his view.

    Music Videos 
  • Miserable: After a prolonged sequence of chasing down each member of Lit and gleefully devouring them alive as he helplessly protests, Giant Woman Pam/Val finishes by grabbing lead singer A Jay Popoff, tossing him into the air and catching him in her mouth. Afterwards she confidently struts off into the distance with a noticeable swivel to her hips apparently proud of what she did and receiving no comeuppance for her actions.

    Video Games 
  • In contrast to the other female characters in ARMS, who either have a standard walk cycle, are in a mechanical suit or float, Twintelle walks with her hand on her hips with a very pronounced sway of varying speed, which highlights her already extremely prominent (and famous) rear.
  • Bayonetta. Bayonetta swings her hips a foot in either direction when she walks normally. Her stance is so exaggerated that even when standing still her feet are placed on the opposite sides of her center of mass.
  • Bendy and the Ink Machine: In Chapter 3, Henry meets the butter-faced "Alice," who wears black tights and a mini-dress and is obsessed with being beautiful. She forces him to go on a "date" with her, and after she causes the elevator crash at the end of the chapter, she can be seen walking toward it with her hips swaying from side-to-side.
  • In Champions Online, characters have the option of different animation sets to use for movement, including walk style. A set that includes a saucy hip-swaying walk is one of the options for female characters.
  • City of Heroes recently introduced the ability to "walk", giving each "body type" (male, female, and huge) its own unique swagger. The female version is... almost back-breaking to watch, but DAMN it looks sexy.
  • In Final Fantasy XIII, Vanille does a real hip-swaying walk, which bounces her fur skirt and attached whip side to side.
  • The "Femme" is is one possible walking style for female characters in Grand Theft Auto: Online.
  • Almost all the human female characters in Genshin Impact walk this way, starting with the female protagonist Lumine.
  • League of Legends:
    • Miss Fortune, the Bounty Hunter has "Strut" as an ability that gives her bonus movement speed.
    • Jhin, the Virtuoso, does what can be best described as a male Supermodel Strut as his default movement animation, casually strutting around and occasionally twirling his gun around. Considering his lanky build and exaggerated movements, it actually makes him look creepy in a mannequin-esque way.
    • Camille, the Steel Shadow, whose hips drastically sway while walking (complete with a single hand on hip). However, the overall effect is closer to Fan Disservice since this is due to the unnaturally-shaped and over-large cybernetic implants in her blade legs.
  • Metal Gear Solid has a scene where you must identify Meryl in disguise by her Sexy Walk.
  • Metroid Dread gives us probably the most obviously feminine walking animation for Samus (even more than Other M). This is most noticeable in the game's first major cutscene when she steps off the elevator into Artaria and she has a very wide, sexy swing to her hips with each step she takes. It also helps that the Power Suit in this game is very, very tightly form-fitting to her legs and thighs.
  • 2B, the female protagonist in NieR: Automata also swings her hips in an alluring fashion when walking normally. Though that is more notable when you self-destruct her dress, leaving her to walk in a Leotard of Power. A2 is an even more prominent example, as she is taller than 2B and has an even more noticeable swing in her walking animation.
  • Bad Girl in No More Heroes does two. One involves dragging her bat as she walks, giving the walk a more "innocent" look. The other is holding the bat like a walking stick and putting her other hand on her hip, giving the walk a "sultry" look.
  • Carmen in The Path goes trudging through the forest dressed like she's off to the club, seducing any animals that may be watching, no doubt.
  • Saints Row 2 gave you the option of controlling how your player character walked in the character creator, and there were at least two flavors of this available for your player regardless of gender. Saints Row: The Third removed this option but the female Boss still had a demonstrably sexy walk.
  • Sonic Frontiers: The Ninja robots and their variants perform this during all their slow walk animations, walking with one foot in front of the other complete with swiveling hips. Exaggerated to the point that even during their idle stance, their legs still remain crossed.
  • Street Fighter V: Menat's walk animation walk combines Supermodel Strut with Walk Like an Egyptian as she struts around on her tiptoes, with a lot of emphasis placed on each step, causing her hips to sway a lot.
  • Tales of Xillia has Presa walk with a more defined swing in her hips, compared to the other female characters, including Milla. Her Stripperiffic outfit helps in keeping the eyes low to notice this.
  • Tormented Souls: Caroline Walker, even when running, has a noticeable sway of her hips.
  • World of Warcraft: Roll a female draenei, and you'll see why "/waggle" has become a meme. (Although, in that case, it's not a matter of high heels; it's a matter of being unguligrade.) Hell, half the females in World of Warcraft walk like this — Night Elf and Blood Elf women, and to a lesser extent orc and troll ones as well. Not to mention the warlock's summonable Succubus minion. Draenei just happen to be exception in that the female half of their entire race happen to stick their butts out. Always.

    Visual Novels 
  • Although this is not portrayed outright, Lauren from Double Homework is mentioned to shake her hips as she leads the protagonist to the bathroom of the nightclub where they are for a much-needed handjob.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY: In the Yellow Trailer, Yang's entrance into the nightclub consists of the camera being focussed on the sight of a feminine silhouette approaching with only two details being emphasised: golden hair and swaying hips. When the doors open to reveal her properly, she continues the swaying walk as the camera slowly zooms in towards her.

    Western Animation 
  • A scene in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Pretty Poison" features Poison Ivy's hip-swaying walk out of the restaurant (in a dress inspired by Jessica Rabbit) catching the eyes of some men.
  • In the Adventures in Music Duology, specifically in Melody, the attractive Teacher's Pet in Professor Owl's class, Suzy Sparrow, walks this way when being called up to sing an inspiring song.
  • ReBoot:
    • Hexadecimal is rather famous for her slinky walk, with one particularly well-known shot of it being used in the opening credits for Seasons 1 and 2. In fact, at one point in the Playstation game, Hex attempts to seduce Bob by masquerading as Dot, but her walk ends up giving her away.
    • Mouse in "The Great Brain Robbery" episode when she walks past Megabyte. The virus himself is unable to resist staring at her swaying butt.
      Mouse: Let's get this show on the road, my meter's running.
      Megabyte: Indeed.

Alternative Title(s): Sexy Walk

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Emerald Struts Down The Street

People can't help but stare at Emerald as she struts.

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