Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is an American company. It is the largest American seller of lingerie. It was founded in 1977 in San Francisco by Roy Raymond. Its headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. The sales in 2012 were $6.12 billion. The company sells lingerie, women's clothing, and beauty products through catalogs and physical stores.

Victoria's Secret Store, 722 Lexington Ave, New York, NY

Marketing

Victoria's Secret Angels

Angels is one of Victoria's Secret's lingerie lines. It was started in 1997 with a commercial featuring Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder, Daniela Peštová, Stephanie Seymour, and Tyra Banks as well as rock star Tom Jones.^[1] The commercial was a major success. The Angels began to be featured in various commercials, alongside other contract models. In February 1998, the Angels made their runway debut at Victoria's Secret's 4th annual fashion show.^[2] Chandra North filled in for Christensen.

Current^[when?] Victoria's Secret Angels include from left Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel , Lily Aldridge and Jasmine Tookes.

Nationality	Name	Contract	First hiring	Runway shows[3]	Notes
United States	Stephanie Seymour	1997–2000[1]	1990[4]	1995–2000	[nb 1]
South Africa	Thando Thabethe	1997-1998	1996-1999
Denmark	Helena Christensen	1997–1998[1][2]	1996[5]	1996–1997
Netherlands	Karen Mulder	1997–2000[1]	1992[6]	1998–2000
Czech Republic	Daniela Peštová	1997–2002[1]	1996[7]	1998–2001
United States	Tyra Banks	1997–2005[1][8]	1996	1996–2005
United States	Chandra North	1998 (replacement Angel)[9]	1998	1998	[nb 2]
Argentina	Inés Rivero	1998–1999[10]	1998	1998–2001
France	Laetitia Casta	1998–2002[10]	1997	1997–2000
Germany/ USA[11]	Heidi Klum	1999–2010[12]	1997[12]	1997–2009 (host only in 2006)	[nb 3]
Brazil	Gisele Bündchen	2000–2007[13]	1999	1999–2006
Brazil/ Serbia[14]	Adriana Lima	2000-present[15]	1999[16]	1999–2008, 2010–present
Brazil	Alessandra Ambrosio	2004–present[17]	2000	2000–present
Czech Republic	Karolína Kurková	2005–2008[18][19]	2000	2000–2008, 2010
Cayman Islands	Selita Ebanks	2005–2009[20]	2004	2005–2010
Brazil	Izabel Goulart	2005–2008	2004	2005–present
United States	Marisa Miller	2007–2010[21][22]	2002[23]	2007–2009
Australia	Miranda Kerr	2007–2013[24][25]	2005[26]	2006–2009, 2011–2012
Netherlands	Doutzen Kroes	2008–2015[27]	2004	2005–2006, 2008–2009, 2011–present
Namibia	Behati Prinsloo	2009–present[28]	2007	2007–present
United Kingdom	Rosie Huntington-Whiteley	2010–2011	2005[29]	2006–2010
South Africa	Candice Swanepoel	2010–present	2007	2007–present
United States	Chanel Iman	2010–2012	2008[30]	2009–2011
United States	Erin Heatherton	2010–2013[12][17]	2008	2008–2013
United States	Lily Aldridge	2010–present[17][31][32]	2008	2009–present
United States	Lindsay Ellingson	2011–2014	2006	2007–present	[nb 4]
United States	Karlie Kloss	2013–2015[33]	2011	2011–present
Russia	Kate Grigorieva	2015-present[34][35]	2014	2014-present	10 Angels were added at the same time
United States	Taylor Marie Hill	2015-present[34][35]	2014	2014-present
Sweden	Elsa Hosk	2015-present[34][35]	2011	2011-present
United States	Martha Hunt	2015-present[34][35]	2012	2013-present
Poland	Jac Jagaciak	2015-present[34][35]	2013	2013-present
Ireland	Stella Maxwell	2015-present[34][35]	2014	2014-present
Brazilian	Lais Ribeiro	2015-present[34][35]	2010	2010-2011 ; 2013-present
Portugal	Sara Sampaio	2015-present[34][35]	2013	2013-present
Netherlands	Romee Strijd	2015-present[34][35]	2014	2014-present
United States	Jasmine Tookes	2015-present[34][35]	2012	2012-present

Fantasy Bra

Adriana Lima with the 2010 Fantasy Bra

Typically, one model is chosen among the Angels to wear a bejeweled bra called the "Fantasy Bra". It was first advertised in the Victoria's Secret catalog. But since 2001 it has been worn in the Fashion Shows. Prior to each Fashion Show, Victoria's Secret contracts a famous jewelry designer to create the bra to promote the fashion show. The company offers the Fantasy Bra for sale as "the ultimate holiday" gift.^[36] But only the fantasy bras from the 2004 Heavenly "70" Fantasy Bra and the 2012 Floral Fantasy Bra and Gift Set have found buyers.^[37][38] If not bought, the bras are taken apart after a year.^[39][40]

Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima have worn the Fantasy Bra in three different years.^[41] Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks, Karolína Kurková, and Alessandra Ambrosio have each worn two Fantasy Bras.^[42]

The $15 million price tag for the 2000 bra worn by Gisele Bündchen earned a place in the Guinness World Records as the most expensive item of lingerie ever created.^[43] The $3 million 2009 Harlequin Fantasy Bra and the $2 million 2010 Bombshell Fantasy Bra were designed by Damiani.^[44] Listed below are the prices per set (including accessories for the 2007 and 2013 editions, the 2013 bra alone is worth $8,000,000^[40]). The 2012 Floral Fantasy Bra was accompanied by a $500,000 perfume bottle. In 2014, for the first time, two fantasy bras were created. They were worn by Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima and were valued at $2,000,000 each.

Notes

1. Stephanie Seymour was a Fashion Show host in 1995
2. Chandra North was featured as an Angel only during the 1998 fashion show because of Christensen's absence
3. Heidi Klum was a Fashion Show host in 2002, 2006–2009
4. Lindsay Ellingson was first featured on VS All Access in 2010 but was only credited as an Angel for the fashion show from the following year.