Before the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show became a global television event, it was a lingerie presentation at New York City's Plaza Hotel in August 1995, introduced by Stephanie Seymour and featuring models like Beverly Peele and Frederique van der Wal. Within a decade, that modest runway show had transformed into one of the most talked-about spectacles in fashion. How did it happen? Through a deliberate, incremental stacking of signature elements—the Fantasy Bra, the Angel Wings, and finally, television. Here's the breakdown of how each piece arrived.
The Genesis of a Spectacle: From Hotel Runway to Global Phenomenon
The first show, held at the Plaza Hotel in 1995, was an elegant but intimate affair. As CR Fashion Book's Eve Eismann recounts, the debut featured models wearing "satin skirts, sheer robes, and minimally designed bras"—stylish lingerie, yes, but nothing yet approaching the theatrical production the show would become. Harper's BAZAAR's Lauren Alexis Fisher similarly traces the show's arc from "an intimate lingerie presentation into one of the most talked-about runway spectacles," noting that in the '90s, supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bündchen, and Stephanie Seymour "turned lingerie into high fashion."
The escalation came fast. Each year added a new layer of fantasy and production value, until the show bore little resemblance to its origins. What's striking, looking back, is how quickly the brand moved from simple presentations to engineered spectacle—each new element introduced with intent.
Angel Wings: The Emblem of Fantasy
If one visual defines the show, it's the wings. According to Wikipedia's history of the event, "the wings were first introduced in the 1998 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" and became "a consistent feature of each year's collection," included as part of some outfits. CR Fashion Book pinpoints the moment further: the first set of angel wings appeared when Tyra Banks walked the runway in 1998.
That single design choice did enormous work. Wings transformed lingerie models into fantastical figures—part fashion, part performance art—and gave the show a visual signature instantly recognizable in photographs, commercials, and pop culture references. Once wings became an annual fixture, the show had its emblem. Every subsequent spectacle built on that foundation.
The Fantasy Bra: A Dazzling Display of Luxury
The other signature element arrived even earlier, though not on the runway. The first Fantasy Bra debuted in 1996, worn by Claudia Schiffer—but, as CR Fashion Book specifies, "only in advertisements." It wasn't yet a runway moment. Still, the jewel-encrusted concept "soon became a staple (and extravagantly expensive) statement for the brand's annual show," per the same account.
The Fantasy Bra functioned as pure luxury theater: a single, astronomically priced piece that generated headlines and anticipation each year, regardless of whether anyone would ever buy it. Its value wasn't commercial in the ordinary sense—it was promotional, a way of framing the entire brand as fantasy and opulence. Together with the wings, it completed the show's core visual vocabulary.
Timeline of Victoria's Secret Fashion Show's Iconic Evolution
Mapping the debut of each defining element shows how the spectacle was constructed piece by piece over the show's first decade, then how it unraveled:
| Year | Event / Element Introduced | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | First show at the Plaza Hotel, New York City | Began as an intimate lingerie presentation, introduced by Stephanie Seymour |
| 1996 | First Fantasy Bra, worn by Claudia Schiffer | Appeared in advertisements only; became an extravagantly expensive annual statement |
| 1998 | First Angel Wings, worn by Tyra Banks | Wings became a consistent feature of each year's collection and the show's visual signature |
| 2001 | First televised broadcast | Transitioned the show into a major televised spectacle reaching a mass audience |
| 2019 | Show cancelled | Followed five years of declining viewership and mounting cultural criticism |
| 2023 | "Reimagined" show format announced | A feature-length film concept intended to champion women's voices and diverse perspectives |
The Televised Era: Reaching a Global Audience
The decisive escalation came in 2001, when the show was first broadcast on television. That move took a fashion-industry event and delivered it directly into living rooms, turning a trade presentation into mass entertainment. The televised format amplified everything the show had built: the wings, the Fantasy Bra, the supermodels, and eventually the musical performances that CR Fashion Book describes as part of the "elaborate spectacle, complete with renowned musical artists and fashion's most esteemed supermodels."
Television completed the transformation. Once the show was a broadcast event, its ratings, its guests, and its Fantasy Bra reveal became annual cultural markers—moments discussed far beyond the fashion press. The 1995 hotel presentation and the 2001 broadcast belong to entirely different categories of event, and the distance between them was covered in just six years.
The Decline and Hiatus: Shifting Cultural Tides
The same visibility that built the show's status eventually exposed its vulnerabilities. When the show was cancelled in 2019, it followed five years of declining viewership—per Fox Business figures cited by The Style Historian, only 3.2 million watched in 2018, a steep drop from 10 million in 2011. The brand also faced sustained criticism: Wikipedia's account notes that critics considered the show "objectifying, lacking in diversity of body sizes, and repeatedly inclined towards offensive cultural appropriation with its designs," criticism that ultimately contributed to the end of the runway shows and a pivot toward digital-platform marketing.
The hiatus lasted five years. In 2023, Victoria's Secret & Co. announced a "completely reimagined version of the fashion show," with Chief Customer Officer Chris Rupp saying the brand was "celebrating the iconic heritage of the brand through a new generation of artists" and would "amplify their vision through our worldwide platform." The format—a streamed feature-length film culminating in a live event—was a deliberate departure from the televised runway template that had defined the original run.
Understanding the Legacy: What Defined the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
Readers should recognize that the original show's iconic status was built on a deliberate strategy of introducing extravagant visual elements and leveraging television to create a global "fantasy" spectacle. The evidence supports a clear reading: the 1996 Fantasy Bra (in ads), the 1998 wings (on the runway), and the 2001 broadcast each added a layer that the previous format lacked, and together they produced the cultural phenomenon audiences remember.
The measurable indicator of success here is simple: the reader can identify and explain the significance of the Angel Wings, the Fantasy Bra, and the show's televised era in any discussion of the brand's historical impact. If you can place the wings in 1998, the Fantasy Bra in 1996, and the broadcast turn in 2001—and explain why each mattered—you understand exactly how a hotel runway show became a global spectacle, and why its cancellation after 2018 marked the end of an era rather than a pause in one.
Sources
- Iconic Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Moments Throughout History – CR Fashion Book
- The 25 Most Iconic Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Looks Over the Years — Harper's BAZAAR
- Victoria's Secret Fashion Show - Wikipedia — EN
- Victoria's Secret reimagines their iconic Fashion Show with a new generation of women from around the world — Victoria's Secret & Co.
