For the highly-anticipated return of The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, visionary pair Zaldy and John Mangru teamed up to bring the brand’s new era to life.
Zaldy is a three-time Emmy Award-winning costume designer, celebrated for his Outstanding Costumes in Variety, Nonfiction and Reality Programming on RuPaul’s Drag Race. With over a decade of collaboration with RuPaul, he has also lent his visionary designs to tours like Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball and Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale. A graduate of both Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology, Zaldy has walked runways himself, modeling for Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. Additionally, he has served as an image consultant for brands like M.A.C. and Shiseido.
Mangru’s website shares the following bio: “John Mangru is the worlds hottest, most wonderful designer, stylist, socialite, model, DJ, magician and all-in-all bad bitch based in the the fashion capital of the world, Dublin. A recent graduate of the National College of Art and Design, John is the one to watch who will shake up the world of fashion, looking to break the rules — bringing in a re-use and re-purpose of both ideas and items.” With a love for vintage and thrifting that influences his work, he is an accomplished corsetier specializing in finely made garments, dedicating countless hours to tailoring and bespoke beading his pieces.
Together, they collaborated to create the stunning looks featured in the show, which comprised five distinct sections: Modern Heritage, Twinkle, Heroes, Atelier and Unwrap The Magic. Here’s a closer look at some of the designs from the VSFS.
Lisa’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Opening
On Lisa’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show opening, Zaldy shared the following on Instagram: “Lisa opening the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in my custom 3-D printed and chromed tabs look covered in Swarovski crystals… I had so much fun working with Lisa and her team on her two performance looks.”
Modern Heritage
Starting the show strong, one of the standout moments of the whole show happened right at the beginning with the mechanical wings on Gigi Hadid.
Tyla’s Performance
Tyla opened the second part in a custom hand-beaded look with custom lingerie covered in Swarovski.
Twinkle
This season, an interesting aspect of the angel wings is that they did not use any real feathers. For example, Alex Consani was seen in a pair of pastel-hued, quilted satin wings.
Heroes
Irina Shayk wore silver, black and reflective vinyl in the shape of stars.
Lisa’s Second Song
As Lisa started off the forth section, Atelier, she wore a custom hand-beaded jumpsuit using Victoria’s Secret collection lace, custom 3-D printed black glass and Swarovski crystal wings.
Atelier
This portion of the show, we saw a bespoke tailored blazer, beading, quilting, hand-made silk flowers and custom couture fabrics from Forster Rohner Lingerie and Jakob Schlaepfer.
Cher’s Set
For the iconic finale, powerhouse Cher wore a custom Swarovski and laced-up corset for her beloved set.
Unwrap the Magic
This final segment also included a pair of 3D-printed wings. Our highlight of the night? Bella Hadid walking the runway.
