Lily Aldridge reveals $2-million Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra
Talk about over-the-top underpinnings. Victoria’s Secret model Lily Aldridge revealed this year’s $2-million Fireworks Fantasy Bra at the company’s Third Street Promenade store in Santa Monica this week.
Crafted by the 125-year-old Geneva-based luxury jeweler Mouawad, the bejeweled brassiere, inspired by Victoria’s Secret’s new Very Sexy Flirt demi bra, is encrusted with more than 6,500 precious stones, including diamonds, blue topaz, yellow sapphires and pink quartz, set in 18-karat gold, with a red garnet and blue topaz centerpiece. The bra comes with an equally spectacular coordinating belt that can be worn over any panty. Weighing in at a total of 1,300 carats, the set took nearly 700 hours to make.
In 1996, Claudia Schiffer debuted the very first, and least expensive, $1-million Fantasy Bra, while Gisele Bundchen modeled the most pricey version in 2000 — a $15-million satin bra embellished with more than 1,300 diamonds and rubies — so the 2015 design falls on the lower end of the price spectrum, historically speaking.
“To get to celebrate something so special and be less than a mile away from where I was born is very cool, “ says 29-year-old Aldridge, a Santa Monica native, who will don the dazzling set again in the lingerie company’s 20th annual fashion show in New York, which is scheduled to be taped Nov. 9 and 10 and televised by CBS on Dec. 8.
Veteran Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Behati Prinsloo and Candice Swanepoel will join Aldridge on the catwalk, as will newer recruits such as Malibu native Gigi Hadid, the face of the brand’s teen-friendly Pink label, and Kendall Jenner, whose addition to the show was first reported by E! on Tuesdsay. The show will include live performances by Ellie Goulding (replacing Rihanna, who reportedly dropped out to work on her new album), Selena Gomez and the Weeknd.
And what happens to the blingy bra after the show? Most often, the bras are dismantled by the jeweler, who reclaims the precious stones. A fantasy is just a fantasy after all, right?
Well, not this year. Mouawad plans to put the bra up for sale Nov. 11, according to Victoria’s Secret reps. Meanwhile, for those not willing to spend $2 million or more (it should be worth more with that Angel dust, one would think), the Very Sexy Flirt demi bra on which it is based can be had starting at $49.50 -- sans jewels of course -- at Victoria’s Secret stores and online.
To earn her Angel wings, Aldridge notes that she trains year-round and amps it up a month prior to the show by working out 1½ hours a day, with a regimen that includes hiking and Ballet Beautiful classes, supplemented by a protein-heavy diet. And she doesn’t go anywhere without a bottle of Ito En green tea. But she confesses to cheating with a cheeseburger now and then.
When it comes to advice on boosting body confidence, given that most women don’t look like a supermodel in lingerie, Aldridge says, “You just have to own your body and find the things that you feel sexy in. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cotton bra or the biggest push-up you can find. You really have to find the thing that works for you.”
As for her top beauty tip, Aldridge says that it’s all about “being a good person, a nice person, a genuine person … because if you’re not nice, you just lose that sparkle.”
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