It's time for the annual hour-long commercial you'd be crazy to change the channel on:
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. This year's show went back to basics, which is basically hot models strutting down the runway in lingerie and, more often than not, very large and elaborate wings.
The format for this year's show/commercial will be familiar to anyone who's tuned in to this before. Most of the show is the runway walk, with quick clips of the stagehands ushering the models on and off the stage to get ready for the next appearance. Music consists of current pop hits and mash-ups of current pop hits, while runway themes varied from a farm to sports to an African forest.
There are also short behind-the-scenes features, which this year meant the models praising each other -- or saying how much they all want to wear some of the aforementioned wings.
Are the Victoria's Secret models now celebrities? If so, there were over 30 of them up on stage last night. No one returned from VS retirement (as Heidi Klum did last year), so it was up to the current crop of Angels to strut their stuff.
This year's musical guests were Katy Perry and Akon (picured below), and their singing certainly suited the occasion: festive, light, and appropriate for a party (or fashion show).
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is at it has been: a commercial for the lingerie chain; a chance to see some of the most beautiful women on the planet in some of the skimpiest outfits on the planet; and another occasion for me to wonder why Victoria's Secret commercials air during this show. It's honest in its commercialism, it's well produced, and
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is an annual tradition that certainly delivers!
Reviewed by James Lynch
P.S. For those who missed it last night,
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will play again on Wednesday, December 8th at 8:00 on the CW.
This Fashion Show features the Victoria's Secret models -- called Angels -- strutting their stuff down the catwalk. The exact outfits aren't sold byVictoria's Secret (though a line of lingerie is "inspired by" the show); instead, there are outfits with superheroes, couture, and aquatic themes. And Adriana Lima showed off her post-baby body by sporting a $2.5 million bra, shown directly below:
While the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2011 opens with a ballet and classical music, is quickly shifts into current pop and rap hits. There are also live performances from Kanye West, Kanye and Jay-Z together, Nicki Minaj (closing the show), and Maroon 5; the latter is no surprise, as lead singer Adam Levine is dating Angel Anne V.
There are small featurettes: the models' first VS Fashion Show, pictures of the Angels as little kids, the elaborate costumes in the shows (as one Angel put it, "It's amazing what they can do with a bra and a pair of panties"), and the Angels' lesser-known interests (from a boxer to a photographer to "a sexy nerd"). But the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2011 is first and foremost hot women in cool lingerie walking and dancing down a runway to contemporary music. It may not be the loftiest of goals, but it's honesty straightforward -- and it works very, very well.
Written by James Lynch
