Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show mixes lingerie, models and music from Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and the Weeknd
Ahh, Paris: The cradle of couture, a hot spot for lingerie, and the birthplace of the expression “ooh la la!”
Victoria’s Secret, what took you so long?
“It’s been a dream for a long time,” Ed Razek, chief marketing officer of Victoria’s Secret, confessed about the brand’s first French showing here Wednesday night, an extravaganza of feathers, flesh and fantasy wings, some the scale of early satellite dishes. “It doesn’t get any bigger than this in the fashion world. Paris is the home of fashion. It’s the home of lingerie and it’s the home of fashion shows.
“It’s a very big deal to be at the Grand Palais,” added Razek, who is also executive producer of the show.
The American firm imported 70 tons of equipment, 18 miles of cable, and 51 of the world’s most bodacious bodies for its annual fashion and music spectacle, to be broadcast on the CBS Television Network and online on Dec. 5. Last year, some 800 million people in 200 countries tuned in.
Prized for its 11-story glass cupola and Beaux-Arts architecture, the Grand Palais regularly hosts Chanel fashion shows, along with art, photography and antique fairs.
On Wednesday night, it was the site of back-to-back Victoria’s Secret shows, each before an audience of 1,300 people, to capture the best possible footage of the brand’s winged Angels strutting their stuff on a sparkly, 115-foot catwalk, backed by performances by The Weeknd, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, who dazzled the crowd with her spine-tingling vocals, towering heels and split-second outfit changes.
Razek marveled that many of the models arrived in Paris with their personal trainers in tow. “These girls have been killing themselves for six months. The level of physical fitness they’ve achieved is astonishing,” he said. “The models have never worked harder than they have for this show.”
“I did a lot of weight training and resistance training,” said Jasmine Tookes, who wore a fantasy bra set with diamonds and emeralds valued at $3 million. “I like to do a lot of squats because it’s good for the bum – and there are cameras from every angle. So I really like to make sure that my butt…