Victoria’s Secret is ready for London, but why you should care? 15 facts about the brand
Victoria’s Secret has officially come to London with the ‘Angels’ arriving in the capital with just hours to go before the big show.
Whether you are a fan or not, 47 models, including Adriana Lima and Jourdan Dunn, arrived yesterday by private jet and it seems the capital is all geared up for the all-singing, all-dancing lingerie catwalk spectacle.
However, while critics of the brand might argue that this lingerie extravaganza simply objectified women, the power of the brand is undeniable and Victoria’s Secret has managed to build quite the empire for itself.
Victoria’s Secret Angels at London’s Bond Street
Arguably the real stars of the show are not the underwear designs, but the Angels wearing them – with the show a platform for celebration of some of the biggest stars of the modelling world.
Ahead of the show tomorrow, here are some things you probably didn’t know about the brand:
1. The brand reportedly gets its name from none other than Queen Victoria. The first stores were designed to resemble Victorian boudoirs.
Queen Victoria, photographed for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897
2. Roy Raymund created Victoria’s Secret in 1977 and sold it to Limited Brands in 1982 for a sizable paycheck. By 1993, it became a nationally recognised brand, while Raymond’s most recent business venture had ended in bankruptcy. Following this, he committed suicide.
3. The brand made a staggering $6.6billion (approx. £4.2bn) in 2013 – that’s more than Gap Inc.
4. Every model, including the contracted Angels, has to audition every year before the show. The casting process make the aspiring models walk away and walk towards them in lingerie under harsh lighting.
5. The Angels are cast based on their appeal to women, not men, with women making up 98% of the brand’s customer base. Allegedly.
6. Nearly 10 million people tune in to watch the show when it is broadcast on American TV. However despite always commanding an impressive audience, the show ratings have slipped over the past few years.
7. The broadcast of the show provokes numerous complaints every year with some viewers calling the show “indecent and obscene”.
Victoria’s Secret 2013 show
8. The show is estimated to cost about $15 million (approx. £10m) mark to stage. The staggering sum put into the annual show is just an example of how the show is a key platform to the business.
9. The most expensive fantasy bra ever made was worth $15 million (approx. £10m) worn in 2000 by Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
10. This is the first year that Victoria’s Secret has commissioned two fantasy bras worth $2m (approx. £1.2m) each and to be worn by Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio.
11. The show is actually staged twice to ensure the cameras catch every angle of the models and their corsets.
12. In 2012 Victoria’s Secret apologised for a controversial Native American costume worn by model Karlie Kloss, which was edited out of the TV broadcast.
13. More than half of Forbes’ highest earning models list comprised Victoria’s Secret Angels. Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Gisele Bundchen, for example, is officially the highest paid model in the world.
14. The Victoria’s Secret contract is so highly regarded that the brand regularly has to turn down requests by high-profile celebrities “desperate” to be an honorary Angel.
15. Victoria’s Secret show takes a full year to plan, and involves a multitude of designers, seamstresses, embroiderers and prop makers.
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