You know, I do admire the designer and production team at Victoria’s Secret. Year after year, inventing new themes and new wings shape for the show couldn’t have been an easy task.
The outfits are of course matter a lot, but the wings usually got most of the attention. With the wings you really have to be very creative. People want to see something new, but they still want to see something attractive. The wings should sufficiently sized to make an impact, but I think there are certain limits, else, are you wearing wings or are you wearing a Christmas tree?
This one is beautiful, though, and has some most amazing details XD
In this post, I try to pick out the freshest looks, wings shapes that never been seen in previous Fashion Shows. I did ten years worth of tracing back, which is to 2007, but I do apologize in advance if I missed something, i.e. picking out a shape that had actually been used.
The Segments for this year are as below:
– Segment 1: Nomadic Adventure
– Segment 2: Porcelain Angel
– Segment 3: A Winter’s Tale
– Segment 4: Millennial Nation (Pink)
– Segment 5: Goddesses
– Segment 6: Punk Angels (VS x Balmain)
Most Innovative Wings 3rd Position: Sanne Vloet’s Birds Flock Wings
This look worn by Sanne Vloet appeared in “Goddesses” segment. Her wings, or back piece to be more exact, consists of several golden birds flying about her. I don’t know what goddesses that makes her be XD. But the wings are sure one of a kind.
Though if we want to dissect more, flying winged creatures being constructed into wings is not a truly new idea.
We have seen it in Miranda Kerr’s “Ballet de Fleurs” look from 2008, in form of butterflies.
And Adriana Lima’s “Exotic Butterfly” from 2015, also in form of buterflies (though you might mistake it as flowers and leaves. I know I did XD )
But still, Sanne’s wings are from entirely different material and fashioned differently enough to be note worthy.
Also making appearance in “Goddesses” are Romee Strijd and Sui He, whose costumes unfortunately weren’t so innovative.
Both are wearing a kind of structured sheer cape.
They looked pretty, and I’d say in motion the billowing of the capes probably look fantastic, but this kind of cape design had been used at least twice:
Karlie Kloss “Aquatic Angel” look from 2012,
And, more obvious in similarity, Taylor Hill’s “Dark Angel” look from 2015.
Most Innovative Wings 2nd Position: JoJa Punk Angels Wings
When I say “innovative”, I don’t necessarily think it’s beautiful.
This safety pins wings look from Jasmine Tookes’ “Punk Angels” exactly reflects that sentiment.
Admittedly, this is the first time for wings that created almost entirely from safety pins made an appearance in the show.
But, in the same bemusement as Ed Razek when he was against the idea of doing VSFS 2016 in daylight, I found my self frowning, “Why would you want Angel wings to be made of safety pins?”
Isn’t the whole Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show spirit to create a couture-y, fine, glamorous collection?
I think current generation young adult’s style is clean & simple; capsule wardrobe is getting new popularity and adopted everywhere. Accessories are kept minimal and to meet two purposes: to accentuate the whole look in stylish way, i.e. fine jewelry, and to be functional, like gadgets.
Safety pins is clearly nowhere in the picture.
Buuut, of course Olivier Rousteing is a mega successful designer—a Balmain Creative Director in such a young age!– and I suppose he knows about style much, much more extensively than I could ever wish for, so this is entirely a matter of taste XD
Although, what are these?
What are these wings supposed to mean?
Are they some kind of deconstructed materials that put safely back together by safety pins? A new kind of batman wings?
How is this supposed to represent “strong, sexy girl who knows what she wants?” (All I can comprehend from this piece is her sewing skill must be questionable).
I’m sorry, but I really don’t get the whole point. The wings are innovative, in term of “new”, but maybe I don’t want to see this kind of “breakthrough” in fashion XP
Though like I said, this is probably only a matter of taste.
My personal favorite looks are indeed some of the more frequently recurring, more conventionally beautiful shapes.
I call them “Flower Cluster Shape”.
My top 3 favorite looks from the entire show are exactly the ones with this “Flower Cluster” wings:
Karlie Kloss and Ming Xi, both in “A Winter’s Tale” segment:
And Vanessa Moody from “Goddesses” segment.
Don’t you think those looks are stunning?
Admittedly, flower cluster shape is not very original, they already appeared as recent as 2016 in “Mountain Romance” segment, worn by Sara Sampaio.
But I don’t mind XD. “Flower Cluster” can be diverse enough by size, shape of the cluster, color, and many other elements. As long as they make it lovely to look at, then it’s all good XD.
Most Innovative Wings Honorable Mention: Beaded Wings of Nomadic Angels Segment
Most of wings on “Nomadic Angels” segment are big, bold, colorful, and yes, first of their kind that made appearance in Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
For example this Cindy Bruna’s look:
Or Leomie Anderson.
But, as I mentioned in my 2015 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show review about ”Exotic Traveller, over-clash of colors is not very appealing for me.
So, for me, this segment is a giant mess.
The feathery and beaded wings, intricate though they are, remind me of traditional woven mat.
Not to mention this Candice look, with which you can seem to give your mattress/carpet a good beat =P
Though this segment presents some of The Most Innovative Wings, it also has its share of The Most Overused Wings of all time, namely, “Feather Duster”.
This time, Adriana and Taylor are the lucky ones to have them on.
As recent as 2016 on “Road Ahead”, the dusters were on Maria Borges and Ming Xi.
And Leomie and Isabel on “Mountain Romance”.
Even Abbey Lee has worn it on 2009.
If you really, REALLY want to bring in the feather dusters, instead of bunching them together into a single or double clusters, I suppose there are several examples where the feathers were shaped more creatively, such as in 2016 “Firework” with Adriana and Cindy.
The Most Innovative Wings 1st Position: Lais Riberio’s Twister Wings with Fantasy Bra
So, here it is, what I crown THE Most Innovative Wings of the Year.
Ooohh, look at it, isn’t it the most stunning shape?
It looks simple enough that you might think a similar shape must have appeared some time, but no, they are really fresh and original.
When they revealed to Lais that she’s going to wear the fantasy bra, I already thought what a gorgeous wings she had on, fantasy bra or not.
I also like the Champagne Fantasy Bra a lot, in fact, it is my favorite fantasy bra so far.
Sometimes, when an Angel got a fantasy bra, VS doesn’t give her wings, so the bra can get full attention. Lais is lucky that the wings compliment the bra so much.
Though if I can let my fussy mouth running wild, the shoes are ugly and kind of ruin the whole thing. I imagine the look would be much better if they pair it with shoes from 2014 Fairy Tale Segment, like the ones below. Wahahahahahahaha never really satisfied, am I.
So, that was it! The most innovative wings of year 2017.
I hope you enjoy the post, and please remember all are my personal opinions and means no harm XD
Were I to do this post back in 2015, Behati Prinsloo and Martha Hunt’s light up wings in “Fireworks” segment will take the crown hands down, because those WERE some kind of wings that were never seen before, incorporating new technology they can, to make it something completely new and different.
So, which do YOU think is the most innovative wings? Which is your favorite wings on this show? On the previous shows? Which do you think are gorgeous, and which are over the top or absurd? XD Let’s talk all about it while we’re looking forward to VSFS 2017 broadcast!
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