Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2009

I was happy to catch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last night.  There are a number of ways to take the show and a lot of elements to consider.  It was a very elaborate production with intense motion/video work projected (the transitions between which were sometimes amazing), The Black Eyed Peas performing, as well as a mini-ANTM-esque competition spliced in…  oh yeah, and then there was the lingerie.  It was part rave with a glow-stick armed audience, part concert, part performance art, and part (yes) fashion show.  Part of me enjoyed the intense mixture of stimulus overload, but part of me found it distracting.  While the fusion of fashion, culture, and art is inescapable and, I believe, a wonderful thing, I think there is also a fine line between extravagance and excess.

The range of aesthetics that the different collections spanned was very interesting as well.  Though some were not my taste per se, they were cohesive and unified in their own right.  In some, the blend of motifs within a single collection was unexpectedly genius.  The PINK collection keeps coming to mind with its blend of 70′s acid trip, retro Americana, and a pinch of uplifting patriotism.

This said, regardless of whether it was too much or spot on, each element had at least one moment of brilliance.  My main reason for watching a fashion show (as I’m sure it is for many) is for the clothes regardless of the installation/performance piece the show may become.  Here are a few of my favorites:

The Million Dollar Bra

If you missed it, you can watch the whole thing on CBS.com.  If you saw it (or after you do), what did you think?  I wish I could find a picture of the amazing hot pink under-bust corset with the two thick, black vertical lines…  anyone notice it?  Gorgeous.