Everything you need to know about the Victoria’s Secret models

FROM the famous Angels to the behind-the-scenes drama, this is what you need to know about the Victoria’s Secret models ahead of the world’s most famous runway show.

Elsa Hosk will wear the $US1 million Fantasy Bra, Picture: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

FROM what it means to be an ‘Angel’, to how much the Fantasy Bra is worth, this is what you need to know about the Victoria’s Secret models ahead of the world’s most famous runway show.

The $US7 billion lingerie giant will stage its annual event in New York this week, featuring supermodels, a $US1 million Fantasy Bra ... and a few Aussies.

Model Gigi Hadid attends fittings for the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York City. Picture: Raymond Hall/GC Images

ANGELS

Not all models who walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show are actually “Angels”, even if they sport a pair of feathered wings. The title only refers to the top models who are contracted to Victoria’s Secret on an ongoing basis. They include Adriana Lima, Behati Prinsloo, Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge and Taylor Hill.

Elsa Hosk offers a glimpse of the Fantasy Bra at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Picture: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

FANTASY BRA

Swedish-born model Elsa Hosk will wear the $US1 million Fantasy Bra, which is made of more than 2100 Swarovski diamonds and took 930 hours to make. Hosk told People this week that the design has a “90s vibe”. VS will sell a modified version of the Fantasy Bra available to the public, priced at $US250.

Only one model wears the Fantasy Bra in the VS show each year, with previous wearers including Heidi Klum, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima and Tyra Banks.

Brazilian model and Victoria’s Secret legend Alessandra Ambrosio struts her stuff at the 2017 show in Shanghai. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Not everyone’s a Victoria’s Secret Angel, but American model Taylor Hill definitely is. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

BLOODY BEAUTY

Hosk, 29, revealed a bloody beauty secret this week to Elle: she uses a skin cream made, in part, from her own blood, made by ‘vampire facial’ skincare guru Dr Barbara Sturm.

“I saw results right away. I was exhausted, I remember it was the last leg of fashion month and my skin was a greyish colour,” Hosk said.

“I was like ... ‘I need some help’. I wore (the custom-made cream) to bed and woke up and my skin was alive again.

“It’s so crazy how your own blood can heal your skin.”

How does Ella Hosk look so amazing? By using face cream made from her own blood, of course. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

BODY IMAGE

Plus-size model Robyn Lawley criticised Victoria’s Secret for not casting curvy models.

Groundbreaking Australian model Lawley, 29, said she would be “shocked” if the US lingerie giant didn’t cast a full-figured model. “I hate Victoria’s Secret,” Lawley said on The Sunday Project in September.

“If they don’t use a curvy girl this year, I’d be shocked. And if they don’t just don’t buy their stuff.”

This week, Bella Hadid was branded “disturbingly skinny” when she posted a photo in a VS bra and pair of knickers.

Aussie model Robyn Lawley is an outspoken critic of Victoria’s Secret. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Aussie model Shanina Shaik attends fittings for the upcoming 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Picture: Raymond Hall/GC Images

AUSTRALIAN STYLE

Australian models Shanina Shaik, 27, and Kelly Gale, 23, are returning to the VS runway this year, along with fresh faces Duckie Thot, 23, and Alannah Walton, 18, who made the cut after attending her first-ever Victoria’s Secret casting. “It rarely happens,” Walton told the Daily Mail.

Swedish-Australian model Kelly Gale brightens the rainy streets of Manhattan has she attends a final fitting. Picture: Gotham/GC Images

PRE-SHOW PREP

Australian model Shanina Shaik, 27, has had a slightly unconventional lead up to this year’s VS show - the fifth one she will walk in. The Model Squad reality star has been in London, where she shot the movie Greed, co-starring Isla Fisher, before jetting to New York to attend her final Victoria’s Secret fitting.

Mum-of-two Behati Prinsloo is back after a two-year absence from the catwalk. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

BEHATI’S RETURN

She took two years off the Victoria’s Secret runway after giving birth to her daughters Dusty and Gino. Now, VS Angel Behati Prinsloo is preparing to make her VS return in New York. But Prinsloo doesn’t see it as a typical fashion show.

“It’s a completely different event,” Prinsloo told Harper’s Bazaar.

“You can’t compare it to any other show. You can’t really call it a fashion show because it’s a performance.

“It’s like when you go to a concert and watch everyone performing and you just want to rock out. It also allows you to be yourself and bring out your personality.”

American model Karlie Kloss injects her own personality into the proceedings. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

TV AUDIENCE

While the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be held in New York this week, it won’t screen on TV until December. The TV special, dubbed The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Holiday Special, has a global audience of 1.4 billion viewers in 192 countries. No Australian air-date or broadcaster has been announced yet.

Romee Strijd makes one of her grand entrances Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

New Zealand model Georgia Fowler looks stunning as she walks the runaway. Picture: AFP

Bella Hadid is back for this year’s show — and this time sister Gigi is along for the ride. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

SISTER ACT

Supermodels Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid will again strut the Victoria’s Secret runway this year - after only Bella, 22, walked in the 2017 show. Gigi, 23, was famously denied a visa to China, where Victoria’s Secret was staged last year, over a social media post that appeared to mock Buddha. It means Bella will have walked in three VS shows, compared to Gigi’s two.

Adriana Lima says the backstage atmosphere can get heated. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

COMPETITIVE STREAK

Of course there’s a catty side to being in a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Brazilian Adriana Lima, 37, previously said that the models are competitive over what outfits they wear. “During fittings, we fight over who gets the biggest wings,” the VS veteran told Buzzfeed. “But we actually really like one another.”

Originally published as Everything you need to know about the Victoria’s Secret models