VICTORIA'S SECRET 2010 FASHION SHOW

Ah, early December: Thanksgiving is a recent memory, Christmas looms, shoppers begin hitting the retail stores in droves, and some of the most beautiful women in the world strut in revealing underwear. The latter isn't a beautiful delusion of mine but the Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show, where the lingerie company takes over CBS for an hour. This year had few surprises -- except a dive into the reality competition genre -- and lots of, well, Victoria's Secret models.

This year's show was hosted by Heidi Klum, shown right below, perky and charismatic as ever (and stunning, especially since she had given birth a few weeks ago). She discusses the behind-the-scenes goings-on of the show -- and also the competition. For this year's show, Victoria's Secret had a competition to find their next Angel, and in-between runway walks we got to see the competition, from the initial auditions to the top ten, top five, top two, and the during-the-broadcast voting to pick which person would walk down the runway on the show. Angel Boot Camp (their term, not mine) was strenuous but not interesting, and the whole contest felt like an attempt to cash in on the American Idol craze.

Musically, the Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show had the Black Eyed Peas, with Fergie even dressing accordingly, shown below. There were also the usual club-style musical mash-ups (who knew Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" worked so well with the Police's "Message in a Bottle?") and current top 40 hits.

As always, the styles shown aren't for sale but are instead the inspirations for Victoria's Secret designs going into 2010. The one exception, shown below, is the $3 million Fantasy Bra, made with diamonds and worn by Marissa Miller.

This fashion show also included Victoria's Secret's Pink line, underwear aimed at teens and college women. Otherwise, Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show offered the same as their previous shows: a perfect fusion of beautiful women and beautiful undergarments, unneded slow motion, and the odd inclusion of Victoria's Secret commercials during the breaks in the Victoria's Secret fashion show. So scroll down and enjoy some more pictures from the always-amazing Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show.

Reviewed by James Lynch

(who is, mercifully, not shown below in lingerie)