There is a lot more to the Victoria's Secret Fashion show than what you see on TV. Here are the 10 most surprising things that happened, backstage, during the show, and at the after-party.
1. There were bomb-sniffing dogs checking everyone's bags for, well, bombs. Before photographers and journalists could enter the backstage area to interview the models before the show, they had to place all their bags and equipment on the ground, and then back away while a black Lab sniffed them for bombs. Afterward, multiple people could be heard remarking that there was less security around the Super Bowl halftime show.
2. There was only one bathroom backstage for everyone to share. And it was unisex. That meant a photographer could be standing at the urinal doing his business when in would walk Stella Maxwell in her pink-and-white striped mini-robe to take care of some business of her own. I'm not saying that is definitely what happened, but he went in, then she went in. They were definitely in there at the same time. It was just like being back in the dorms. If you went to college with VS Angels, that is.
3. There was a woman with a giant sombrero interviewing models backstage. She was just walking around, doing her thing, like it was no big deal.
4. No one was allowed to take pictures, video, tweet, or engage social media in any way during the taping of the show. Security even gave everyone little plastic baggies for their phones and they was serious about enforcing the anti-social policy. If they saw you with your phone out during the show, they came up the aisles and told you to stop. They were very intimidating. Unless, of course, you were in the front row. Then you could do whatever you wanted. In the end, though, it was sort of nice to be banned from using your phone. 'It really forced me to stay in the moment,' said one editor.
5. Everyone stood up and cheered when Adriana Lima came out for the first time, and she looked really touched. To be totally honest, people stood up and cheered at the beginning of every section of the show (Adriana made her entrance to open the second section), and they usually remained standing the whole time, but the expression on Adriana's face was still very sweet. Yeah, it's probably an act, at least in part, but, at the same time, she's been doing VS for 17 years at this point. That's half her life. It's a big deal.
6. Kendall Jenner has seriously never looked happier on the runway. Kendall's runway walk is usually so serious — verging on stiff, even — but she really turned it on and pumped it up at Victoria's Secret. She was bobbing and strutting and air-kissing like the best of them.
7. Gigi Hadid made oversize fireman's pants look ridiculously sexy. Seriously, Gigi is the best thing to happen to giant yellow flame-retardant pants since Samantha Jones attempted to seduce that fireman on Sex and the City. It was one of the simplest and most covered-up looks of the entire show, and she turned it into one of the sexiest.
8. Ellie Goulding did not take a final bow. During the finale of the first taping, The Weeknd, Selena Gomez, and all the models made a final appearance on the runway, but Ellie Goulding did not. Selena motioned to The Weeknd and everyone cheered. The Weeknd motioned to Selena and everyone cheered. Then everyone seemed to sort of look around for Ellie, but she never came out and then the show was just … over. She did, however, make it out for the finale of the second taping.
9. Kris Jenner joined Questlove in the DJ booth at the after party. Maybe she wanted to request a song. Or maybe she just wanted to be closer to him because he smelled so much like Waffle Crisp cereal. Seriously, you guys, he smelled so Waffle Crisp-y. It was wonderful.
10. Caitlyn Jenner spent most of the night in a private booth blocked off from the rest of the party by four bodyguards. While Kendall and Kris hung out on the huge, open sofas in the middle of the club, Caitlyn sequestered herself in a small booth just off the DJ station. The opening to the booth was guarded at all times by four huge security guards who surveyed the crowd like they were on the lookout for snipers. So weird.
Words: Charles Manning
From Cosmopolitan.com
