List of Victoria's Secret Fashion Show models

Victoria's Secret Angels

Current Victoria's Secret Angels include top (left to right) Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio and Heidi Klum; bottom (left to right) Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller, and Doutzen Kroes.

Victoria's Secret is a brand of lingerie and sleepwear that holds the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which is a fashion show to promote and market its goods in high profile settings. After the first show, the shows in the 1990s were held in the days preceding Valentine's Day. Since 2001, the shows have been broadcast during the Christmas holiday season. Each year two dozen to three dozen of the world's top fashion models are selected to perform in a fashion show for the Victoria's Secret company. In a typical year, this includes about a half dozen women under contract to the company,^[1] known as Victoria's Secret Angels, who help publicize the event.

History

The first fashion show extravaganza, introduced by Stephanie Seymour, was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in August 1995.^[2] The show also featured Beverly Peele and Frederique van der Wal.^[2] This first fashion show occurred two months before The Limited, parent company of Victoria's Secret owner Intimate Brands, sold an initial public offering of a 16 percent stake in the company and almost had Seymour make an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange.^[3] The subsequent three annual shows were also held at the Plaza.^[4][5][6]

In 1999 during Super Bowl XXXIII, Victoria's Secret announced a 72-hour countdown to the internet webcast of the Victoria's Secret fashion show, which resulted in over 2 million internet viewers of the show.^[7] The show featured Tyra Banks, Laetitia Casta, Heidi Klum, Karen Mulder, Daniela Pestova, and Seymour.^[8] In 1999 and 2000,^[9][10] the show was broadcast live on the internet, but the 2000 show was moved for a year from the usual February event at the Plaza to a May event in concert with the Cannes Film Festival in South France.^[11][12]

In 2001, the show returned to the New York City but at Bryant Park instead of the Plaza.^[13] That year's show was aired on ABC,^[14] and it has been broadcast on network television since that year. From 2002 through 2005 it was held at the Lexington Avenue Armory in New York City.^[15][16][17] The 2004 show was cancelled after the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy.^[18] Before the 2005 show, Banks announced her retirement from modeling and embarkation on a television career with the The Tyra Banks Show, making the 2005 show a farewell to her decade of fashion shows for the company.^[19]

The 2006 and 2007 shows were held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.^[20][21] On November 13, 2007, the Victoria's Secret Angels were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame right outside the Kodak Theatre.^[22][23] The 2007 Angels honored in this celebration to mark Victoria's Secret's 25th anniversary on Hollywood Boulevard were Alessandra Ambrosio, Marisa Miller, Selita Ebanks, Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr, Izabel Goulart and Karolina Kurkova. The other models, who also appeared in that year's fashion show, were in attendance that day.^[24] The 2008 show coincided with the grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel.^[25] The televised shows have emphasized elaborate costumed-lingerie, varying music, and fancy-themed artistic design. The shows include models from most parts of the world.

List

* - Did not appear in show according to some sources.
** - Omitted from broadcast as runner-up to Victoria's Secret Model Search competition winner Kylie Bisutti.

Fantasy Bra

Prior to each Fashion Show, Victoria's Secret contracts a renowned jewelry designer to craft a bejeweled bra, dubbed the "Fantasy Bra," to be used as a focal point for promoting the fashion show and as a centerpiece within it since the early 2000s. Most often modeled by a Victoria's Secret Angel in promotional material and on the runway, the company offers the Fantasy Bra for sale as "the ultimate holiday" gift,^[60] although none have sold since 1996, its first offering.^[61]

* - The $15 million price tag earned the set a place in the Guiness World Records as the most expensive items of lingerie ever created.^[63]

Notes

See also

• List of Victoria's Secret fashion models

External links

• Victoria's Secret website