Victoria's Secret extravaganza 2014
A couple of nights ago I got bullied into watching the Victoria's Secret annual runway parade for 2014. Man-oh-man what a production. I had no idea. Obviously I have heard of the Victoria's Secret annual runway parades and I have seen bits and pieces of previous shows here and there, but watching it from start to finish is—so to speak—a real eye opener.
The four feature artists were Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Hozier. It is almost worth watching the show just to hear and see these artists perform. The sound quality was superb and really deserves to be piped through a decent sound system to be appreciated.
Then on top of this you have the Victoria's Secrets models—in their angel wings and various other states of (un)dress that you are never going to see anywhere else—going up and down the 'runway'. And this runway is unbelievable. At this stage I am not sure if the runway is made of glass and has a light show system housed underneath it, or it is a huge mirror and the light show we could see on the runway was actually coming from the roof above it.
The cost of producing this show must have been staggering. I Google'd around trying to find some kind of cost estimates. CNN Money estimates the production cost at US$20 million (here). The CNN Money report also has a clip that tells us what some of the models are worth. For example Doutzen Kroes is worth US$13 million.
Even though the cheap 'tickets' are worth something like £10,000 each (about US$15,500) it seems you can only attend the show if you are invited or by making a suitable donation to an approved non-profit charitable organisation. One wonders how they get their money back.
If you get the chance I would recommend watching this if only for the performances by the feature artists and to experience that magical runway light show; but make sure you have good sound happening!
Barry.