Revealing Victoria’s secrets..
top 10 facts on lingerie firm as it opens first dublin store
HEAVEN sent! THE sexiest store in the world Victoria’s Secret is opening its doors on Dublin’s Grafton Street today.
The international lingerie brand’s new store features a wide assortment of its signature underwear and sleepwear collections.
The US company is one of the world’s leading fashion retailers with added popular lines including fragrances and cosmetics.
Its annual catwalk show has become a do-not-miss event, as supermodel brand ambassadors, known as Angels, don the famous wings to showcase an array of incredible looks.
Current Angels include Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Lily Aldridge, Martha Hunt and Taylor Hill.
To celebrate the billion euro firm’s Grafton Street opening we have rounded up 10 top VS facts.
The Grafton Street branch is not the first VS store in Ireland.
Victoria’s Secret opened in Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2 departures lounge four years ago. But sadly for fans of the brand the store is behind security.
Until now, you had to literally leave the country if you wanted some fancy pants and sugary body spray.
Two Irish models have walked the famous VS shows. Stella Maxwell, whose parents hail from Belfast, is a current Angel and has graced the catwalk for the past three years.
While the blonde bombshell is our first ever Angel, Outlander actress Caitriona Balfe, from Co Monaghan, was the first Irish woman to walk the Victoria’s Secret runway in
2002.
Hozier is the only
Irish singer to perform on the show. The Wicklow native became the envy of every man on the planet when he sang his mega hit Take Me To Church at Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in
2014 in London.
Victoria’s Secret held its annual show in Shanghai last month, the lingerie giant’s first fashion event outside Europe and America.
But it was surrounded by controversy after rumours that Katy Perry and Gigi Hadid were denied Chinese visas.
This year stunning model Lais Ribeiro, right, was given the honour of wearing the €2million Victoria’s
Secret fantasy bra.
Last year Jasmin Tookes wore the Bright Night Fantasy Bra, showcasing 9,000 gemstones, 450 carats and worth approximately €2.5million. But that’s peanuts compared to the Red Hot Fantasy Bra worn by Gisele Bundchen in 2000 — at €13.6million, the most expensive piece of lingerie ever made.
It’s founder wanted to make lingerie-buying a less stressful experience for men.
Roy Raymond was inspired to open up his own shop after an awkward department store experience.
He said: “When I tried to buy lingerie for my wife I was faced with racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns
“I always had the feeling the department store saleswomen thought I was an unwelcome intruder.”
The very first VS, devoted solely to selling lingerie in a more upscale and male-friendly atmosphere, opened in California’s Palo Alto in 1977.
There was no ‘Victoria.’ 7 Raymond picked the name because he felt it complemented the store’s chic, English-inspired interior. Raymond and his wife Gaye would go on to open five more stores and launch a successful mail-order catalogue. The chain was purchased for €844,000 in 1982 by Leslie “Les” Wexner.
Its recent overseas expansion hasn’t been without controversy. In 2015, Qatari officials banned the brand’s “Strawberries and Champagne” fragrance from a VS there, arguing the reference to bubbly violated the “customs, traditions, and religious values” of the country.
There are VS Angels from continent except Antarctica. Strutting the VS shows is guaranteed to turn regular models into super-model stardom. In 2014, all but five of 21 catwalkers included on Forbes’ list of richest models had at one point posed for VS ads or strutted in the show.
Number of Irish models who have taken part in the VS Fashion Show
CHIC Jourdana Philips
Shoplifters love it. VS stores are a frequent target of both petty thieves and large-scale shoplifting rings. From 2007 to 2014, shoplifters carried away nearly €16,800 worth of merchandise from a US store and one Florida-based “entrepreneur” made €44,700 selling stolen Victoria’s Secret underwear.