This past Tuesday, my sorority sisters and I congregated around the TV to watch the 2010 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. With viewing treats, like cookies and Christmas candy in hand, we gaped at the gorgeous Angels and their lingerie as they strutted down the runway. As they walked, we discussed who we liked better, Adriana or Alessandra, how we felt about Miranda Kerr’s babyface and her recent marriage to Orlando Bloom and what was our favorite look and theme from this show.
The highly anticipated show brought in 9 million viewers this year, compared to last years 8.3 million. With star models like Doutzen Kroes and Miranda Kerr missing due to pregnancies, the show still held strong with other veteran supermodels, Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoele, and Alessandra Ambrosio. Unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed as impressed with this show as I was last year.
First off, I am not a Chanel Iman fan, at least for Victoria’s Secret runway and promotional work. When I see her, all I can see is the cutesy teenage model from Teen Vogue. Iman has recently been working on maturing her career, but I felt she looked misplaced walking next to some of the top models of the world. On the topic of models, I was thoroughly disappointed with Liu Wen’s performance. On the runway, her presence wasn’t felt; It seemed like she liked personality or depth. However, I might have anticipated too much out of her because I recently read an article in Vogue on how Asian models are trendy now.
The overall design of the show was very up and down; there were some spectacular pieces and then some mediocre. Nothing was horrible, but some of it wasn’t as impressive as the rest.
I definitely give the show high marks for creativity and originality, however. The show consisted of classic themes, such as safari/jungle and Western. Yet, they incorporated fresh ideas. While I watched it, I felt like I hadn’t seen it before, despite the over-use of the themes.
Even though I adored the Western catwalk, I have to say that my favorite theme was the sports one. With such an unconventional idea, this walk was either going to look brilliant or fail miserably. I was surprised about how fantastically the performance went! For one, there was great unity between the models and the lingerie; The models seemed to really connect with and enjoy wearing the outfits. That oneness provided a fluidness and a concept of feminine strength to the walk. My personal favorite outfit was the soccer one; The soccer ball jacket was genius!
On the flip side, I was greatly disappointed with the PINK show. The designs were not unified and were bizarre; they didn’t possess the youthful, spunky feeling that the line embodies. It appeared that the designers worked too hard at creating a connection between the line and the theme of childhood. With all the rainbows, glitter, sequins, and plastic, the image got lost. It turned into hideous and cheap looking collection opposed to presenting a sentimental and colorful image. However, the models did a good job of selling the products and having fun with it. It was also adorable when one of the models turned around to show of the open bottom of her onesie!
From a design point, I would have switched the PINK show with the jungle themed one. The PINK show lack a finishing luster that was needed since there was no fun surprise endings.
The show this year was well-executed and well-designed, yet it left me wanting more. But not wanting more in a good way, like an encore. It was more of a “wait, that’s it?!” reaction. It was hard not to compare it to last year’s show where Heidi Klum made an appear and where they had the Angel Search competition going on. It was simply a fashion show, not a performance like last year’s. I was impressed, but I kept yelling “gimme gimme gimme more!”
Alexander's Eyes 