20 years of glamorous, seductive and kitschy VSFS runway fashions.
After nearly five years off the air, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is back. In May, the lingerie brand confirmed the return of its televised spectacle, promising a more diverse selection of models — and the same glamorous wings.
As fans may remember, the annual program featured themed looks inspired by everything from ballerinas to surrealist artworks. In honor of the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which will take place in New York on Oct. 15, a look back at some of the kitschiest, sexiest and downright fantastical segments of all time.
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Fantasy & Myth
Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images One of the first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows to include a themed runway was in 1999. Entitled “Fantasy & Myth,” models wore sheer fairy-esque wings and tiaras in addition to the traditional feathered angel wings the brand is best known for.
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Santa’s Helpers
Image Credit: FilmMagic Santa Claus’ fur-trimmed suit got a sultry update with the 2005 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show segment entitled “Santa’s Helpers.” Models including Gisele Bündchen, Ana Beatriz Barros and Alessandra Ambrosio sported velvet sets featuring festive details like bedazzled shoe buckles, fuzzy hoods and in Ambrosio’s case, a sack of gifts.
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Delicious Sweets
Image Credit: Getty Images Further channeling the holiday spirit, the 2005 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show also featured a candy-themed segment. Looks evoking candy canes, conversation hearts and jelly beans traveled down the runway, with perhaps the kitschiest lingerie set — made completely of colorful candy beads — being worn by Ambrosio.
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Come Fly With Me
Image Credit: FilmMagic In 2006, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show featured a segment inspired by retro flight attendants. “Come Fly With Me” included 1960s styles — pillbox hats and all — transformed into sultry lingerie sets.
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Highland Romance
Image Credit: WireImage The 2006 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show’s “Highland Romance” segment featured designs inspired by Scotland. Looks flush with pheasant feathers, leather buckles and naturally, tons of tartan, flooded the runway.
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Winter Wonderland
Image Credit: WireImage The 2006 “Winter Wonderland” segment saw models like Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr cozy up in all-white furry muffs and mittens paired with crystallized lingerie. Fittingly, the season’s icy aura translated into a diamond-encrusted Fantasy Bra, worth $6.5 million, worn by Karolina Kurkova.
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Sureally Sexy
Image Credit: Getty Images Perhaps the oddest themed VSFS segment was 2007’s “Surreally Sexy.” Adriana Lima, Angela Lindvall, Selita Ebanks and more paraded down the glittery runway in designs based on famous paintings by surrealists like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte.
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Deck the Halls
Image Credit: WireImage The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show staged yet another Christmas-themed runway segment in 2007, but what set “Deck the Halls” apart was its all-encompassing approach: looks featuring ornaments, gift bows and even silver bells added jolly touches to the catwalk, with the pièce de résistance being Heidi Klum’s massive snowflake wings.
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Glamour Goddess
Image Credit: WireImage Greek myths were the obvious inspiration for the 2008 VSFS segment entitled “Glamour Goddess.” Models draped in flowing fabrics accessorized with metallic shoes and jewelry, melding the effect of heavenly robes with Grecian armor.
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Star Trooper
Image Credit: WireImage Backgrounded by the Black Eyed Peas’ electro-pop sound, models in the 2009 “Star Trooper” segment wore flashy metallic and neon looks evocative of Space Age design.
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Enchanted Forest
Image Credit: WireImage The 2009 “Enchanted Forest” segment looked like something out of a storybook: motifs of butterflies, florals and leaves populated the runway, which also featured models dressed like childhood characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and Little Miss Muffet.
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Country Girls
Image Credit: WireImage 2010’s “Country Girls” segment set the mood with gingham, patchwork, eyelet and crochet garments, evoking cottagecore coziness. Wings crafted from straw and wood gave the segment an appropriately outdoorsy touch.
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Game On
Image Credit: Getty Images “Game On,” another 2010 segment, featured sultry plays on sports such as boxing, soccer, swimming, baseball and lacrosse.
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Wild Things
Image Credit: FilmMagic 2010’s “Wild Things” sent forth a safari of Angels wearing animalistic lingerie decorated with leopard, zebra and giraffe prints, as well as on-theme accoutrements like peacock feathers and crocodile or snakeskin footwear.
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Ballet
Image Credit: Getty Images The 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show opened with a ballerina-themed segment that saw models in pastel tutus and lace-up heels reminiscent of pointe shoes.
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Super Angels
Image Credit: WireImage 2011’s superhero-themed runway featured models in latex, catsuits and thigh-high boots. Several looks nodded to comic book art, including Adriana Lima’s, whose cape was emblazoned with a text bubble.
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Aquatic Angels
Image Credit: WireImage Victoria’s Secret models like Miranda Kerr, Constance Jablonski and Lindsay Ellingson embraced under the sea designs in 2011’s “Aquatic Angels” segment. Seashells and tropical fish inspired several sets of wings, while Miranda Kerr’s pearl-encrusted Fantasy Bra — worth $2.5 million — gave mermaid glamour.
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Circus
Image Credit: Getty Images Adriana Lima served as the ringmaster of the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, opening the entire spectacle — and more specifically, its “Circus” segment — dressed in the emcee’s signature red and gold uniform. Naturally, Lima’s ensemble included a sultry twist, featuring sequined lingerie worn beneath an embroidered floor-length cape. Other familiar circus sights, like tigers, clowns and snake charmers, were also turned into elaborate runway looks.
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Calendar Girls
Image Credit: Getty Images Each month of the year was turned into a sexy runway look for the 2012 “Calendar Girls” segment, which included holiday-themed wings shaped like hearts and shamrocks — obvious nods to Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.
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Angels in Bloom
Image Credit: WireImage Each look in 2012’s “Angels in Bloom” segment was based on a different flower, including blooms like poppies, lilies and irises. Alessandra Ambrosio modeled a $2.5 million Fantasy Bra, crafted by London Jewelers, that featured floral motifs matching her orchid wings.
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British Invasion
Image Credit: WireImage The 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was held in London, so it’s no surprise that one of the segments celebrated Jolly Old England. “British Invasion” included looks based on bobbies, footballers (read: soccer players) and of course, the King’s guard.
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Gilded Angels
Image Credit: Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret Like its name suggests, the 2014 “Gilded Angels” segment featured Angels such as Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo and Karlie Kloss in golden wings.
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Boho Psychedelic
Image Credit: Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret Channeling the hippie fashions of the late 1960s, the 2015 “Boho Psychedelic” segment saw models in funky patterns and on-theme textures including velvet, suede and lots of fringe.
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Punk Angels
Image Credit: WireImage Another music-based subculture served as the inspiration for 2017’s “Punk Angels” segment. Several leather-heavy looks, designed by Balmain — the first high fashion label to collaborate with Victoria’s Secret — featured edgy nods such as safety pin embellishments, metallic studs and graffiti print, while others incorporated plaid lingerie and fishnet corsetry or catsuits.
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Celestial Angel
Image Credit: Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret The final Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show before of its cancellation featured a segment entitled “Celestial Angel.” Stellar looks included capes, boots and bodysuits embroidered with the night sky, while wings took shape in stars and moons.
