History of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is a global event. It’s the most-watched fashion show worldwide, seen in more than 90 countries.
Victoria’s Secret is the only fashion retail company to have its own television special. The 2010 show airs Nov. 30 on CBS.
I was fortunate enough to attend the taping of this year’s show on Nov. 10 in New York City. I also got a chance to interview some of the models during their hair and makeup sessions.
I asked model Edita Vilkeviciute of Lithuania if the show could be too sexy.
“Never. Come on. Everybody likes sexy,” she said.
The first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was held in 1995. This year’s show is the 15th overall and the 9th to be broadcast on network TV.
The following is a timeline for the show, with information supplied by Limited Brands.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show timeline

1995
Model Stephanie Seymour opens the first Victoria’s Secret Fall Lingerie Show with a cotton white bralette and black stretch bikini dressed up with naughty black vinyl go-go boots and a low slung belt at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. (New York)

1996
The Victoria’s Secret Spring Fashion Show returns to New York City and is covered by media in cities such as London, Tokyo and Sydney. (New York)

1997
The Annual Victoria’s Secret Spring Fashion Show becomes one of the most widely anticipated fashion events in the world. (New York)

1998
Media from all over the world travel to New York City to cover the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Hollywood celebrities and Wall Street stars fill the audience. (New York)

1999
Victoria’s Secret announces the first live webcast of its Fashion Show with a commercial during the Super Bowl, which immediately drives millions to VictoriasSecret.com. The show and webcast made fashion, advertising and Internet history with an audience of a billion people in over a hundred countries. (New York)

2000
Victoria’s Secret and Miramax Films partner to hold the spectacular Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and Webcast at the Cannes International Film Festival to benefit amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS 2000 in France, raising a record amount of about $3 million for Cinema Against Aids. (Cannes, France)

2001
Victoria’s Secret debuts its first-ever television broadcast of the Fashion Show with a 1-hour special on ABC drawing the network’s largest audience and highest ratings of the season for that time period. Supermodels make appearances on several shows including “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” raising thousands for charities. The show is held in November to kick-off the holiday season. (Bryant Park, New York)

2002
“The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” jumps to CBS and airs on Nov. 20. The show coincides with the opening of the world’s largest Victoria’s Secret store in Manhattan’s Herald Square. (New York)

2003
“The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” returns to CBS and airs on Nov. 19. The Broadway-spirited show was hosted by supermodel, Heidi Klum, as well as some of Victoria’s Secret’s other well-known Angels, and featured musical performances by Sting and Mary J. Blige. (New York)

2004
No fashion show this year. Fallout from Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl stunt prompted the cancellation of the show. Instead, the Angels (Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen, Adriana Lima, and Alessandra Ambrosio) did an Angels Across America Tour, visiting four major cities: New York City, Miami, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

2005
The holiday-themed show marks the final “Victoria’s Secret Fashion show” for Tyra Banks and the first post-pregnancy runway appearance for Heidi Klum. It also debuted the next generation of Victoria’s Secret “Angels” Selita Ebanks and Izabel Goulart, and featured musical performances by Seal, Ricky Martin and Chris Botti. (New York)

2006
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show takes place in Los Angeles at the legendary Kodak Theater featuring the “Angels” and musical performances by Justin Timberlake. It aired on CBS on Dec. 5. (Los Angeles)

2007
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show returns to the Los Angeles Kodak Theater. It aired on CBS on Dec. 5. The show featured celebrity “Angels” and musical performances from the Spice Girls and Seal. Plus, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Victoria’s Secret, the Hollywood Historic Trust and Johnny Grant, the late Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, presented the Victoria’s Secret Angels with its “Award of Excellence” and a star on Hollywood Boulevard. (Los Angeles)

2008
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion show takes place at the legendary Fontainebleau Miami Beach, an iconic resort re-opened after a $1 billion renaissance. It aired on CBS on Dec. 3. The show included Grammy Award-winning superstar Usher as the sole musical guest, red carpet interviews, model profiles and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the world’s most celebrated fashion show. (Miami)

2009
The Fashion Show returns to New York for a holiday-infused lingerie runway show. It aired on CBS on Dec. 1 and included red carpet interviews, model profiles, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the celebrated fashion show. The sole musical guest was three time Grammy Award-winning superstars, The Black Eyed Peas. The show’s producers conducted their first-ever Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show model search – an innovative cross-country hunt using open casting calls to find a runway model sexy, sophisticated and beautiful enough to walk in our world-famous fashion show. (New York)

2010
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is headlined by supermodels Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio. The show featured musical performances by Katy Perry and Akon. (New York)

See also:

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Wikipedia

Victoria’s Secret on Facebook

Victoria’s Secret website