Once upon a time (i.e: over the summer), Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson were just two infatuated twenty-somethings who got engaged after only a few weeks of dating. Of course, the couple has since split, but there’s an artifact of their relationship on the Internet that will always remind us of when times were good. I’m talking, obviously, about Grande’s song “Pete Davidson” from her album, Sweetener.
The track was a last-minute addition to Grande’s fourth studio album. Running at a little over one minute, it’s the shortest song on Sweetener but by far one of the most memorable. There are no direct references to Davidson on the song but rather just general musings about how Grande is happy in her relationship. “Universe must have my back/Fell from the sky into my lap/And I know you know that you’re my soulmate and all that,” she sings before the chorus of the song. “I’ma be happy, happy,” she then repeats several times before the tune comes to a close.
But there’s a hidden message in “Pete Davidson” even the most diehard Grande fans might have missed. It turns out the guitar chords in the song are B-A-E on a loop. So, in other words, bae.
“I was looking up Ariana Grande guitar chords (I don’t have a guitar) and discovered the chords to ‘Pete Davidson’ are just BAE over and over and I can’t believe I just wrote the Da Vinci Code,” the fan who first noticed this message tweeted.
Halsey, who performed at this year’s Victoria Secret Fashion Show, called out the annual lingerie spectacle on Instagram Sunday night (December 2).
“I have adored the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show since I was young,” the “Bad at Love” singer posted as the runway special was airing on ABC. “Performing this year alongside other amazing artists and hardworking models/friends was supposed to be the best night of my year. However, after I filmed the performance, some comments were made regarding the show that I simply cannot ignore.”
Halsey is most likely referring to the controversial comments Victoria’s Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek made about the show’s not-so-inclusive casting history. “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy,” he said.
Several transgender models took issue with Razek’s statement, including Andreja Pejic, who wrote on Instagram, “It’s really sad when you see powerful people in our industry holding such backward views and being so comfortable in expressing them on a public platform.”
Now Halsey is speaking out. “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have no tolerance for a lack of inclusivity,” she wrote. “Especially not one motivated by stereotype. If you’re on my page because you watched my performance tonight, please allow me to instead direct your attention to GLSEN: An organization that offers services aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ youth. And with respect to those youth targeted by these comments in a world where they have been made to feel ‘other,’ I have made a sizable donation in their honor.”
She continued, “If you are a trans person reading this, and these comments made you feel alienated or invalidated, please know that you have allies. We stand in solidarity, and complete and total acceptance is the only ‘fantasy’ that I support.”
Decorating for the holidays is serious business for many—but if you’re CEO of Crown Media Networks (a.k.a. the Hallmark Channel) the bar is on a different level. “Oh, I’m a Christmas nut,” William J. Abbott, Crown Media’s CEO and president, tells Glamour.com. “We actually built [an addition] in our house so we could accommodate a 12-foot tree in the middle of our den, so, yeah, we just love the holidays.” The same goes for Michelle Vicary, the network’s executive VP of programming and publicity. “Christmas decorations go up the day after Halloween,” she jokes. “I’m a little [like the] Griswolds.”
Tinsel and trees aside, Abbott, Vicary, and the entire team at Crown Media actually live the business they’re selling. And they’re selling it well. Vicary says nearly 85 million people lay eyes on the network between Halloween and New Years. If that sounds more like a Christmas miracle than reality, you haven’t been paying attention to the Hallmark Channel—or its sister property, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries—the last few years. When the network says it is “cable’s biggest success story,” it’s true.
This year Hallmark is in the midst of airing 37 original holiday movies for its Countdown to Christmas programming (and planning the 2019 holiday slate). And watching these movies is no longer a guilty pleasure—it’s appointment television. From unofficial drinking games to a user-friendly app, it’s become cool to stay home and watch two people in sweaters fall in love in a town named like a Bath & Body Works lotion.
PHOTO: Hallmark
‘Christmas at Pemberley Manor,’ starring Jessica Lowndes and Michael Rady.
Abbott says Netflix is partially to thank for changing viewer habits, particularly among millennials. “They have a formula that certainly has worked for them in terms of driving people toward watching on their smart TVs,” he says. “Ultimately the more people that consume entertainment, the better off we all are.”
But Netflix is only a small part of Hallmark’s success. Vicary cites the constant, and often depressing, 24/7 news cycle as another factor. “I think people can only take so much,” she says. “We purposely look to be an escape. We try not to be issues-oriented in terms of creating polarizing conversations because there are places to get that. We are a place that is a haven from that. We’re just a different conversation.”
Abbott agrees. “I think it’s not only the political landscape, but the entertainment landscape to a degree too. There are just very few options that are not shocking, looking to shock, or looking to be over-the-top in terms of violence or salacious for salacious sake. I think people tire of that.” Abbott admits that’s not the only reason people tune into the channel, it is a big one—and something that Hallmark has included in its strategy. “It’s tapping into emotion in a positive way and making you feel a little better about relationships and how people interact,” he explains. “The Hallmark brand is all about people connecting. The secret, I think, to our success is that we focus on that relentlessly.”
“We really work hard to ensure that our women are strong—while they don’t need a man, they’d love to fall in love.”
This secret to success doesn’t come without detractors, though. Abbott and Vicary know there are plenty of people who think the content is cheesy, but that doesn’t have to be a negative. “I have to be honest, I don’t always think predictable is a bad word,” Vicary says. “I think of every Nora Ephron comedy I ever watched—the first time I saw Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on screen, I knew they were going to end up together. But it was the journey! So I don’t mind when you tune in that you know our characters—who are on two separate journeys—are going to end up together by the end. It’s about how they get there.”
OK, so how did Hallmark get here? How did it go from a brand-new network in the early aughts to a holiday empire? For one, consistency. Hallmark premieres most of the original movies on Saturdays and Sundays, a time when other networks air sports or re-runs. “It’s the perfect time to unwind and get away from reality,” Abbott says. “We appeal to people wanting that escape over the weekend.”
Second, it’s investment. “Our movies are so much better because our production value, our stars, our music, our scriptwriting, our development, and our production are so much better than they’ve ever been,” Abbott says. “Success snowballs. The more you do right, the more people notice; the more people notice, the more you invest; the more you invest, the more you pay attention, and the better it gets.”
PHOTO: Hallmark Channel
LeAnn Rimes in ‘It’s Christmas, Eve’.
And finally, as Vicary points out, it’s about creating an experience. “We’re an emotionally-driven brand. We’re about enhancing relationships and enhancing life.” She says in the last decade the network has tapped into viewers’ love of celebration. “The Hallmark brand already lives in that space, so it really is about delivering on the experience of the brand.”
And then there’s the wish-fulfillment aspect, those picturesque, snow-capped towns and leads in color-coordinated holiday attire. “We’re not embarrassed to say, ‘Let’s make it sound even more holiday oriented,” Vicary says with a laugh. “We are not shy about creating an environment that compliments and enhances that great story.”
Still, that “environment” has come under more scrutiny in the past few years for being predominantly white, straight, and without much diversity. The network needs to do more to reflect America today—and Abbott says the Hallmark Channel team is aware and working on it. “Absolutely, no question about it,” Abbott says. “We’ve worked really hard at it. It’s the type of thing we should have been doing all along, but we’re pleased at where we are.”
Where they are is a more diverse slate of programming than years past. It’s not perfect yet, but one example of progress is a recent full-page ad Crown Media took out in The Hollywood Reporter to showcase its holiday slate. Of the 14 actors in the ad, nine were women, seven were people of color, and five were women of color.
“I don’t care what political party you’re part of or where you live, people like to feel positive.”
“Our goal is to do everything we can to represent the public faces on television and represent the United States as it really looks on our air,” Vicary says. “I think we have some terrific casting this year with Tatyana Ali, Dondre T. Whitfield, Patti LaBelle, Christina Milian, Jerrika Hinton, Tia Mowry, and more. We have our most diverse slate ever.”
In addition to what viewers see on air, Vicary notes that “more than 50% of the scripts that were written this year were written by women.” She also said they’re consciously trying to hire more female directors and behind-the-scenes crew. “I think in the last year we have added three more women to our roster of directors,” Vicary says. “We are very conscious of it.”
But Abbott or Vicary know that’s not enough. The executives are discussing a possible Hanukkah movie to join their holiday lineup (“One of my development execs brought me one this week that they were really excited about,” Vicary says. “I said, ‘Great, let’s meet and talk about it for 2019.”) According to Abbott, he’s even open to a Hallmark movie where the main couple doesn’t end up together. “As we delve into our content and [look for] a more authentic way, we’ll progress,” he says. “Everything is on the table.”
PHOTO: Hallmark
Danielle Panabaker and Matt Long in ‘Christmas Joy’.
That progress is important to Abbott and Vicary, who want Hallmark to stay current and evolving. “It’s particularly important that we represent the reality of the twenty-first century in that everybody is different and unique,” Abbott says. “It’s a pet peeve of mine when I read a story and kids are portrayed a certain way. The reality is girls can play baseball or be into science or play with dolls.”
Abbott even acknowledges that the network’s older movies were guilty of playing into stereotypes.”You look back at some of old, old movies, and it’s kind of the stereotypical situation of the woman at home,” he says. “We work very hard to stay out of that stereotypical dialogue and situational behavior because it’s just not reality, and it’s not authentic. We really try to empower women. We really work hard to ensure that our women are strong—while they don’t need a man, they’d love to fall in love. But at the end of the day, that is not what they need to be successful or happy or fulfilled or have a good career. That is something that is very important to all of us to portray.”
That awareness is one of the reasons Abbott credits the Hallmark Channel’s growth in markets like Chicago, New York, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, and D.C. “I think there’s this feeling that we’re flyover country and that it’s all red-state people,” he says. “That’s just completely not true. Everybody likes to feel good. I don’t care what political party you’re part of or where you live, people like to feel positive.” Yes, Hallmark’s content isn’t edgy—”and never will be”—but it’s certainly smarter than it’s ever been. “And that wins.”
It’s been a stressful year, but at least you can count on Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix to come through with the holiday cheer. After all, what’s more relaxing than watching an overworked woman fall in love with a Christmas tree farmer? So decompress with all of our delightful holiday content right here.
When the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show taped on November 8, there are some things we know to expect: pink satin robes, glossy air kisses, bedazzled push-up bras, elaborate angel wings. If the casting announcements are any indication, we can also expect to see the usual army of 5’10, size-two models—not surprising for a runway show, perhaps, but a far cry from the direction much of the lingerie industry is headed.
During the past few years, Victoria’s Secret’s competitors—including Aerie, ThirdLove, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty—have built their brands on messages of self-acceptance and body positivity, touting diverse casts of models, Photoshop-free campaigns, and (relatively) broad size ranges. And they’ve reaped rewards in the form of sales and social media accolades. Nearly every new startup in the lingerie space has “inclusivity” baked into its mission statement. And at the mass level, retailers like Target and J.Crew now cast non-sample-sized models in marketing materials as a matter of course.
Victoria’s Secret appears to be holding their ground, a fact that some of the brand’s rivals and critics have seized upon as a marketing opportunity of their own, calling for boycotts and staging campaigns with pointed hashtags like #ImNoAngel (Lane Bryant) and #weareallangels (ThirdLove and curve model Robyn Lawley). Ashley Graham—perhaps the most obvious candidate for a spot on Victoria’s Secret’s roster, with her 7.5 million Instagram followers and ample runway experience— skewered the brand on social media last year, posting an image of herself in a lingerie set by plus-size brand Addition Elle and a Photoshopped set of angel wings on the same day VS taped its show. The caption: “Got my wings! … #thickthighssavelives.”
Graham’s post racked up nearly 775,000 likes, putting it on par with some of the most popular images from the show itself, according to an analysis by Instagram marketing firm Dash Hudson.
If Victoria’s Secret was still the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that it was throughout most of the 2000s and 2010s, then the old argument that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” might apply. But since early 2016, parent company L Brands has reported quarter after quarter of declining sales and shrinking profits. And CBS, which had aired the annual fashion show, said that ratings in 2017 were down 30 percent from the year prior among viewers aged 18-49, with just under 5 million people tuning in to the broadcast. (In 2018, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has a new network home: ABC.)
PHOTO: Matt Winkelmeyer
There could be many factors at play here—new competitors in the lingerie space, changing viewership habits and shopping behavior… But the consumers Victoria’s Secret needs to connect with in order to sustain itself in the future—younger millennials and generation Z—tend to respond to brands they perceive as authentic and values-driven, and shun the hyper-sexualized imagery that appealed to previous generations, according to research firm PSFK. Gen Z, roughly defined as teens and young adults born between 1997 and 2010, will account for 40 percent of all consumers by 2020, ad agency Barkley predicts, together holding up to $143 billion in direct spending power; younger millennials, meanwhile, are now exiting their college years and generating income of their own, making them an increasingly enticing demographic for brands.
Victoria’s Secret has done an exceptionally good job at meeting these shoppers where they spend a significant portion of their time: Instagram. It has cast celebrity models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, who boast 97 million and 44 million followers respectively, in its annual fashion show. The brand’s Angels, the select group of models on long-term contract, make frequent appearances on its social media channels. But while this online reach helps ensure the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is seen by hundreds of millions around the world, that doesn’t necessarily translate into sales.
“There’s a difference between buzz and buyers,” explains Jeetendr Sehdev, New York Times bestselling author of The Kim Kardashian Principle and celebrity branding authority. “And while Victoria’s Secret continues its buzz, it’s suffering on the buyers front.”
Body positivity, meanwhile, is “one of the key movements within the lingerie industry,” says Jo Lynch, lingerie editor at trend forecaster WGSN. Take the acclaim of Savage x Fenty, which closed New York Fashion Week with a runway show-performance art hybrid starring an exceptionally diverse cast of models and dancers, as “a good example of a sexier brand sending out a clear message about who the lingerie is for, and who should enjoy it: the women who wear it.”
Can Victoria’s Secret thrive with the same old formula? The brand doesn’t normally comment publicly on the lack of body diversity among its models. But decisions about its annual runway extravaganza can’t be taken lightly: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show takes a full year of planning and can cost upwards of $20 million to produce, L Brands’ Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek told the New York Times in 2016.
In a statement provided to Glamour, Monica Mitro, EVP of Public Relations at Victoria’s Secret, said: “The women in this year’s show are from all over the world. They represent many stages of a modeling career and each has her own story to tell. Scrutinizing women’s bodies of any size related to the Victoria’s Secret brand is unfortunate because it puts judgement on women of any body type. Victoria’s Secret believes the body positivity dialogue should be positive. It should not be done by putting other women down, including the 60 women that are excited to be in our Fashion Show. These women represent so many important aspects of diversity that should be celebrated beyond solely focusing on their bodies.”
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
Razek and Mitro also sat down with Vogue this year, and, in a story published the day of the show’s taping, responded to some of the criticisms it has faced. “I think we address the way the market is shifting on a constant basis,” he said. “If you’re asking if we’ve considered putting a transgender model in the show or looked at putting a plus-size model in the show, we have. We invented the plus-size model show in what was our sister division, Lane Bryant. Lane Bryant still sells plus-size lingerie, but it sells a specific range, just like every specialty retailer in the world sells a range of clothing. As do we. We market to who we sell to, and we don’t market to the whole world.”
In terms of its fashion show casting, Victoria’s Secret puts heavy emphasis on physical fitness, messaging it’s ramped up in the past few years with its “Train Like an Angel” campaigns, which push the brand’s activewear offerings and might serve to silence critics who contend that Victoria’s Secret’s idea of “what’s sexy” is all about being thin. Models frequently talk about the intensive training regimes they embark on months before the show.
But the brand would hardly have to give up its fitness-first narrative in order to add a few curvy models to its lineup. Graham, for one, trains at New York’s Dogpound gym, where many of the Angels are regulars. Candice Huffine is a runner with her own line of size-inclusive activewear. Marquita Pring can swing a set of kettlebells with the best of them. If the show is the modeling world’s Super Bowl, as it’softencalled, then a size 8 or 14 can train just as hard for it as a size 0.
And while any change is sure to bring out some haters, the praise will almost certainly drown them out, if the runways of New York Fashion Week are any indication. In recent seasons, brands like Christian Siriano that have made diversity a priority have not only been celebrated in the press, but have ultimately boosted their bottom lines.
Casting director Hollie Schliftman, who helps bring Siriano’s vision to life every season, declined to comment on Victoria’s Secret directly, but she says she understands why some brands are still holding out when it comes to their casting. “I see how people just love to do what they’re used to,” she says. “It’s hard—this industry is a really hard [one] and people are very critical and very judgmental. So it is taking a risk going out of the norm of what people are used to, but it’s so nice to see that people… that there are some designers that really just believe in what they believe in and they take the risk and they do it.”
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
PHOTO: Getty
Any change, though, has to come from the top, according to casting director Gilleon Smith, whose work with New York brand Chromat has also earned widespread accolades for its radical inclusivity.
“I’ve always said this a lot, but fashion is not a progressive industry,” Smith says. “It’s very traditional, which people don’t really get, but people kind of stick with who they know—what photographer, what stylist—and nobody really goes outside of that in terms of working with different creative teams unless something bad happens. So I think that Victoria’s Secret has had this formula that they use, and they have the same people continuing on the legacy and the tradition of what they’ve always done, and that is their barometer or metric for success.”
Size, however, seems to be a more challenging frontier. One hurdle may be the fact that Victoria’s Secret simply doesn’t carry sizes larger than a 40DDD in bras and an XL (equivalent to a size 16) in panties and apparel, meaning many, if not most plus-size models are already sized out of the line. That could create another problem: If the brand were to cast someone like Graham, who wears a size 16, it could come off as disingenuous if Victoria’s Secret didn’t also commit to expanding its size range—more a ploy for press than a genuine desire to reach an untapped market.
Perhaps it’s a commitment to the promise of “fantasy”—an adjective it uses in its marketing materials, and to describe the multimillion-dollar bra one lucky model wears every year—over reality. This fantasy, to hear the brand’s executives tell it, is the idea that every girl can aspire to be like a Victoria’s Secret model: “It’s a celebration of powerful women by powerful women who work very hard at what they do, live a healthy life and inspire legions of admirers,” Razek told the Times in 2016.
PHOTO: Getty
Chromat’s Smith, however, has a somewhat different take: “It’s kind of like a Christmas special. It’s this whimsical fashion cartoon that everybody’s watching.” The show, in this sense, is more like pageantry than a reflection of the real world (though even Miss America dropped its swimsuit competition this year).
But does fantasy still resonate with today’s shopper? According to YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm, 70 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 34—Victoria’s Secret’s prime demographic—say they like seeing “real looking people” in ads.
“Consumers more than ever connect to the product through those people presenting them, so if the models are not engaging the customer or they feel like they can’t somehow relate then the casting has failed,” say Drew Dasent and Daniel Peddle, casting directors and co-founders of The Secret Gallery, who declined to comment on Victoria’s Secret’s casting choices.
“If you’re looking at Victoria’s Secret and the people who shop there, it’s people completely across the U.S. and beyond,” says Smith. “And I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to have representation of all kinds.”
Sehdev, the brand marketing expert, says Victoria’s Secret will need to act fast and decisively if it wants to hold onto its place at the top. “It’s a highly competitive market, so it’s great that they have made some movement [in terms of racial diversity], but they have truly got to make some radical changes moving forward,” he says. “They have to really reinvent and reimagine the brand in a way that is fresh, provocative, bold, and brazen for a new generation of consumers that think, act, and feel very differently.”
Despite its recent challenges, Victoria’s Secret is still a multi-million brand with the power to make supermodels’ careers and broadcast its image of what sexy looks like to countless women around the world. It’s a mall staple, and, with its teen-geared Pink brand, the first lingerie store that many American girls shop at. With a broader range of sizes, it might be fair to say that its clientele would be nearly as diverse as the country itself.
“The brand has a specific image, has a point of view,” Razek told Vogue. “It has a history. It’s hard to build a brand. It’s hard to build Vogue, Ralph Lauren, Apple, Starbucks. You have a brand position and you have a brand point of view. The girls who have earned their way into the show have worked for it… And all of these things that [other brands] ‘invented,’ we have done and continue to do.”
The question now is what will the lingerie giant do with the influence it still wields?
The Fantasy Bra is a tradition that dates back to 1996, when the lingerie giant put Claudia Schiffer on the cover of its catalog wearing the Million Dollar Miracle Bra, a push-up style covered in “over one hundred carats of real diamonds” and valued at $1 million. Over the years, Victoria’s Secret has incorporated the Fantasy Bra into its highly publicized fashion shows, bestowing it upon one of its contract Angels—from Gisele Bündchen (in 2000 and 2005) to Lais Ribeiro (2017)—and upping the ante (and price tag) on the bling.
This year Swedish model Elsa Hosk will wear the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra down the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway. The diamond-encrusted bustier-style top (with matching body chain) features more than 2,100 stones, including a responsibly sourced topaz accent. Victoria’s Secret partnered with Swarovski, which has been creating a crystal-coated look for the fashion shows since 2003, on the 2018 Fantasy Bra. The grand valuation: $1 million.
PHOTO: Slaven Vlasic
Hosk herself was introduced to the concept of the Fantasy Bra through Heidi Klum, who wore it three times during her tenure as an Angel. “I think they said, ‘Here comes the million-dollar bra!’ And I thought, Whoa, a million dollars—that’s special. You just knew it was the most special moment in the show,” she tells Glamour. Hosk has been a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2015, and this will be her first time wearing the Fantasy Bra. She found out about a month ago, she says: “They planned a fake photoshoot. I was wearing a normal outfit. Everyone was watching me, and they said, ‘Something’s coming for you, Elsa.'”
This milestone comes with extra significance for Hosk: The model turned 30 the day after it was announced that she would be wearing the 2018 Fantasy Bra, and just a few days before she was set to walk the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway with it. “It feels really, really, really special,” she says. “I feel really proud that I got to wear in my career. It’s a cool moment.”
PHOTO: Dimitrios Kambouris
Read on for some more fun facts about the 2018 Fantasy Bra.
It’s the first Fantasy Bra to be made with lab-grown diamonds. The 2,000+ diamonds on the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra were created by Swarovski, marking the first time the bra has been made with jewels originating from a lab. This is one of Hosk’s favorite parts of the style: “It’s a bit more sustainable, and I’m very supportive of that,” she says. According to Victoria’s Secret, it took 930 hours to make the 71-carat bra. This is also the first time Swarovski has made the Fantasy Bra, having collaborated with the lingerie brand on custom show looks for many, many years prior.
PHOTO: Michael Stewart
Its design was inspired by Hosk… When she finally got a look at the Fantasy Bra, Hosk was struck by how true it felt to her own fashion sense—and that was apparently the point. “When I was there, someone was asking, ‘Did you look at Elsa’s style?’ And they said yes,” she remembers. “They look at each girl that they design it for and take into consideration what looks good on them, what their personal style is. I feel like this was really made for me.”
…but the bras was molded in the silhouette of an existing Victoria’s Secret bra. The Dream Angels Fantasy Bra may be one of a kind, but it’s made in the shape of one of the brand’s signature product ranges, the Dream Angels collection. Prices start at $34.50 for an unlined style and go up to $69.50 for a longline balconet. However, if you want to buy something as close to the actual 2018 Fantasy Bra as possible…
For the first time, Victoria’s Secret will sell a version of the Fantasy Bra. It’s not the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra—only Hosk gets to wear that one, sorry—but Victoria’s Secret and Swarovski did collaborate on a special-edition bra to be sold in select stores and online that’s inspired by one you’ll see at the 2018 fashion show. It’s a white, double-strapped bustier style, decorated with crystals, and it’ll retail for $250.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret.
The 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will air on ABC on December 2 at 10:00 P.M. EST.
Wearing the Fantasy Bra is one of the highest honors for a Victoria’s Secret Angel. It’s like earning valedictorian status, or Beyoncé asking you to take out her trash: It doesn’t happen often, so, when it does, embrace the hell out of it.
Last year, Lais Ribeiro walked down the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway in the Champagne Nights Bra, valued at $2 million. And in 2018, the look—a bustier-and-body-chain style made with over 2,100 diamonds from Atelier Swarovski, according to Vogue—will be modeled by Swedish Angel Elsa Hosk. You might not be able to purchase is, but starting on November 29, Victoria’s Secret will be selling a crystal-embellished Dream Angels Fantasy Bra online for $250—a relative bargain, compared to the millions associated with Fantasy Bras.
As it happens, a couple of thousand diamonds is chump change compared with some of the more expensive Fantasy Bras of years past. (The 2018 bra is valued at $1 million, according to People—but a previous one was priced at $10 million.) That’s more than my life, your life, and Aaron Carter’s life! Hosk is just one of many Angels to wear the Fantasy Bra: Tyra Banks! Alessandra Ambrosio! Heidi Klum! Heidi Klum again! The Fantasy Bra Club is a who’s who of supermodels/future reality-TV show hosts. Once you’re in, you’re pretty much set. So, rest easy, Tookes: You have a long modeling career ahead of you, followed by an offer to host the 184th cycle of America’s Next Top Model. Dreams do come true.
All jokes aside, this is a big effing deal. Maybe seeing the full list of models in the Fantasy Bra Club will convince you.
1996: Claudia Schiffer
Schiffer wore the very first Fantasy Bra, which was valued at $1 million. Unfortunately, however, it didn’t appear in the fashion show. Perhaps executives were too afraid of letting a 100-carat diamond bra loose on the runway?
1997: Tyra Banks
One of the earlier fantasy bras shows more satin than diamonds, but hang tight—we’re just getting started.
1998: Daniela Pestova
Pestova’s $5,000,000 “Dream Angel Fantasy Bra” featured a dazzling display of rubies and diamonds.
1999: Heidi Klum
Klum’s first-ever Fantasy Bra was blue with silver stars, and is valued at a casual $10 million.
2000: Gisele Bündchen
PHOTO: Evan Agostini
This $15 million bra-and-panty set was the Guinness Book record holder for the most extravagant and expensive underwear ever at the time, with more than 1,300 rubies and diamonds.
2001: Heidi Klum
Klum wore a diamond-encrusted demi bra valued at the time at $12.5 million.
2002: Karolina Kurkova
This $12 million set echoed the romance of an English garden.
2003: Heidi Klum
Klum, back at it again with the multimillion-dollar bra! The style she wore in 2003 is valued at $11 million.
2004: Tyra Banks
PHOTO: Marion Curtis/StarPix/REX/Shutterstock
Banks wore the Heavenly 70 Fantasy Bra in 2004, which featured a 70-carat pear-shaped diamond embellishment—on top of the 2,900 pavé-set diamonds set throughout the 18-karat white gold. The price tag: $10 million.
2005: Gisele Bündchen
The Brazilian bombshell wore a Fantasy Bra with a 101-carat fancy-cut diamond drop hanging from the sweet bow detail at center. Like Klum’s, it was valued at $12.5 million.
2006: Karolina Kurkova
Diamond jeweler Hearts on Fire created this $6.5 million sparkler, which has more than 2,000 diamonds.
2007: Selita Ebanks:
Just a bra? No way. Ebanks’ $4.5 million lingerie set by Mouawad included a bra, thong, garter, cuff, and barrette, all coated in diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and yellow sapphires.
2008: Adriana Lima
Lima went to the next level in 2008, when she wore a $5 million style with 3,900 black-and-white diamonds (that’s 1,500 carats!) interspersed with rubies.
2009: Marissa Miller
This $3 million harlequin-inspired brassiere had 2,355 diamonds and a 16-carat heart-shaped diamond pendant at the center.
2010: Adriana Lima
Lima wore the Fantasy Bra for a second time in 2010. This $2 million one had 60 carats of diamonds in addition to blue topaz and sapphires.
2011: Miranda Kerr
The Aussie babe wore a more classic look with yellow and colorless diamonds, citrines, and aquamarines, which was then draped in strands of pearls and finished with a pearl tassel. The value? $2.5 million. Chump change.
2012: Alessandra Ambrosio
Ambrosio’s $2.5 million style was covered with amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds—not to mention, a removable 20-carat white diamond at the center.
2013: Candice Swanepoel
This baby was nicknamed “the Royal.” It has more than 4,200 stones, including rubies, diamonds, and yellow sapphires. The price tag: $10 million.
2014: Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio
Diamonds are great and all, but when you and your bud get some? Even better. Lima and Abrasion wore these gem-drenched suits valued at $2 million each.
2015: Lily Aldridge
PHOTO: Michael Stewart
This stunning bra is valued at $2 million.
2016: Jasmine Tookes
PHOTO: Pascal Le Segretain
Tookes became the third model of color to don the Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra—and her Bright Night style had a cool $3 million price tag.
2017: Lais Ribeiro
PHOTO: Dimitrios Kambouris
Brazilian Ribeiro modeled the Champagne Nights Fantasy Bra, which is valued at $2 million, at the 2017 show.
2018: Elsa Hosk
Swedish model Elsa Hosk will wear the Fantasy Bra at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show—a decadent lingerie creation made with over 2,100 Atelier Swarovski diamonds. “My body was violently shaking,” she told People. “And it wasn’t because I was nervous, I was just excited. It was a cool feeling that I’ve never felt before. And it was definitely a moment that I’ll never forget.”
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