With a cast of international supermodels and social media queens, a trio of top pop stars and a bra worth an eye-watering $2 million, the Victoria’s Secret Show is a bonafide pop culture phenomenon. In case you weren’t nestled somewhere between Caitlyn and Kris on the front row of the glitziest lingerie show in the world, here are the most unreal things we saw* backstage and on this year’s runway.
*on supermodels’ Instagram accounts.
The pop stars
After Rihanna quit last-minute because she’s still finishing work on upcoming album Anti, the music side of things was taken over by Selena Gomez, The Weeknd and Ellie Goulding. Cementing the break from her child star image, Gomez wore a slashed black slip on the runway and bespoke Louis Vuitton by Nicolas Ghesquiere on the red carpet, which she instagrammed with some truly reverent praise: “Thank you @nicolasghesquiere @louisvuitton for my custom dress tonight. Felt like a true VS angel”.
The robes
They might be dripping in diamanté and not much else on the runway, but backstage it’s basically 1970s Corrie: rollers, hair nets and dressing gowns.
The social media it models
They might not be packing quite the same social punch as Selena Gomez (who has 50.5 million Instagram followers), but almost. Rounding out the Holy Trinity of social stars were Victoria’s Secret first timers and BFFs Kendall Jenner, and her 41 million followers, and Gigi Hadid, who brought 8.2 million along for the ride.
The fantasy bra
Every year, Victoria’s Secret go very much in the other direction to their general wares and produce a bra that is worth the sort of money that amounts to a lot of boobs if you hold the calculator upside down. This year, VS Angel Lily Aldridge wore a creation valued at an eye-watering, conscience-bothering US $2 million that looks like two diamond Catherine wheels.
The themes
We all know it’s not cool to follow trends anymore, but what if the trend is following you? Aside from their underwear, VS models are magically adorned with — reportedly quite heavy — personal, portable backdrops. From ‘Love’ in bubble writing and tassels for Behati Prinsloo’s hippyish opening look to Maria Borges’ seasonal fireworks spectacular.
