>> The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show has come a long way in 15 years — see the very first show, sans any wings, here — and this year, the theme is "A Night of a Thousand Fantasies." The first few costume images have popped up (Lily Aldridge's two looks can be seen here), and we've got a few confirmed names to add to the list: among them, Selita Ebanks, Katsia Damenkova, Anne Vyalitsyna (who's getting her first wings this year), Constance Jablonski, Gracie Carvalho, Lily Donaldson, and Lais Ribeiro.
There's also a new casting video out, and Ed Razek, chief marketing officer of Limited Brands, parent company of Victoria's Secret, admits of the process: "I hate castings, because I’m basically a softy and I hate the broken hearts and I hate saying no . . . What people don’t realize is that [those who fit the parameters of a Victoria's Secret model are] rarer by far than superstar athletes. The numbers of people who can do this are probably under 100 in the world. And in the show, it’s only [33] girls.”
And the castings — which Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou and Dan May of Harper’s Bazaar UK and 10 Magazine have a say in as stylists — are tough. Maryna Linchuk had to audition again this year, despite walking in the show in the past, because bodies change, Monica Mitro, executive producer of the show, said. “You don’t see them for a minute, and . . . ” she added, holding her hands wide to gesture for broad hips. But some faults are more forgivable than others — when Caroline Winberg walked in to casting, with hair described by the New York Times as "frazzled by styling until it was the texture of wood shavings," Mitro stated: “Never mind the hair . . . we can always do something about the hair."
>> Gisele Bundchen 