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.
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. 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. Chandra North filled in for Christensen.
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. But only the fantasy bras from the 2004 Heavenly "70" Fantasy Bra and the 2012 Floral Fantasy Bra and Gift Set have found buyers. If not bought, the bras are taken apart after a year.
Heidi Klum and Adriana Lima have worn the Fantasy Bra in three different years. Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks, Karolína Kurková, and Alessandra Ambrosio have each worn two Fantasy Bras.
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. The $3 million 2009 Harlequin Fantasy Bra and the $2 million 2010 Bombshell Fantasy Bra were designed by Damiani. Listed below are the prices per set (including accessories for the 2007 and 2013 editions, the 2013 bra alone is worth $8,000,000). 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.