Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2005 - Celebrity Supermodel Photos

The fashion show, a multimillion dollar televised showcase of lacy titillation, was scrapped last year amid a wave of broadcasting modesty that followed singer Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004.

The show was filmed for broadcast Dec. 6 on CBS television, which carried the event for two years before the hiatus and drew only modest viewership.

Wednesday's event was held at the New York State Armory in Manhattan, the streets surrounding the building were packed with long lines of hopeful fans, some of whom were turned away.

The standing-room only crowd eyed celebrity supermodels including Gisele Bundchen, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum – making her first appearance after giving birth – decked out in the latest over-the-top Victoria's Secret designs.

The runway was decorated as a holiday toy room, with giant pink teddy bears emblazoned with "Sexy Little Bear," supersized gift boxes, candy canes and alphabet building blocks.

The models pranced down the runway in holiday-themed lingerie that an R-rated elf might wear, such as a tiny Santa skirt with feather trim, fur-trimmed stiletto boots. Other items included a feather plume bustle, an embroidered bra and a fishnet thong with Swarovski crystals.

Unlike a typical runway show where models wear stony pouts, the models walking the runway were smiling and lip-syncing to the music. They closed the show by lining up at the top of the runway, dancing and embracing one another.

The show opened with jazz musician Chris Botti playing the trumpet. Singers Seal and Ricky Martin also performed.

The crowd cheered the musicians and supermodels, especially Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks, who has been focusing on her new career as a talk-show host and television producer.

The show's return comes as Victoria's Secret parent company, Limited Brands Inc , is trying to revive investor interest. Shareholders of the retailer, which also operates Bath & Body Works, Limited, and Express, have suffered a disappointing year so far.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company said earlier this week it is planning a business overhaul, which including an overhaul of its beauty products division, and introducing more high-end apparel.

Contact: Scott Tillitt, 917-449-6356, scott@antidotecollective.org

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The environmental campaign against Victoria's Secret escalated tonight as the lingerie retailer was subjected to a "hijack" of its annual "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" in New York. Amid heavy security, Reverend Billy and his choir -- http://www.revbilly.com -- and a coterie of chainsaw-bearing angels and paparazzi staged a street theater spectacle outside and briefly disrupted the red-carpet interviews to draw attention to the company's destructive environmental practices.

The performance from ForestEthics and Reverend Billy follows a coordinated international day of action on Nov. 3 that included 350-plus demonstrations. Just days before, on Oct. 28, ForestEthics also ran a full-page ad in the New York Times. All are part of a continuing, multi-faceted effort to raise awareness with consumers and pressure the company.

Victoria's Secret mails more than a million catalogs daily on virgin paper that comes largely from endangered forests. Two years of research has confirmed that 25 percent of its catalog paper comes directly from North America's endangered Great Boreal forest -- one of the three largest remaining forests on earth. The Boreal is crucial as a defense against global warming and for keeping our air and water clean, and it's currently being logged at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day. An area the size of Manhattan is destroyed every 5 days.

Controversy and drama are nothing new to the annual fashion show. In 2002 animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) rushed the runway toting protest signs and CBS cancelled last year's event due to the FCC crackdown on indecency following Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl halftime show exposure.

The environmental campaign against Victoria's Secret and its parent company, Limited Brands, began in the fall of 2004 and includes ad campaigns in major cities, hundreds of demonstrations, and a website -- http://www.VictoriasDirtySecret.net -- where people can get involved and motivate the retailer to use recycled paper, to stop using paper from Endangered Forests, and to reduce its overall paper usage.

ForestEthics -- http://www.ForestEthics.org -- protects Endangered Forests by transforming the paper and wood industries in North America and by supporting forest communities in the development of conservation-based economies.

More information available at http://www.VictoriasDirtySecret.net

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