The Key to Christy’s Impeccable Posture

The easiest way to prep for good posture on castings, catwalks, and on set, is to get in the habit of having good posture ALL THE TIME. If just thinking about carrying yourself like a ballerina doesn’t work, then consider some dance classes (ballet guru Finis Jhung has some excellent DVDs you can do at home). Yoga is also a great activity to teach you to be mindful of your body and posture, and unlike many forms of exercise, yoga lengthens, rather than shortens, muscles (my favorite yoga CDs are by Nantucket Yoga Rooms’ Shannah Green). This makes for a gorgeous, lithe model bod.

Kate, getting away with hunching. Don’t try this at home.

While slouchy poses may have worked at the height of the heroin chic era, standing tall is the safest—and sexiest—stance. Did you see any hunched over models on the Victoria’s Secret  runway? No way, not even a heavy pair of wings could weigh down the shoulders of these pros…

She’s not just winging it. This takes practice!

Victoria’s Secret’s Confident Elves

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Miranda Kerr, Backstage at the VS Show

Now when I watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (which aired last week on CBS and airs again tomorrow on CW), I wonder if refusing to pose in panties is considered overly prudish today. In an era when the VS Angels have replaced Miss America contestants as role models for girls, does all that bare skin even faze anyone? Do the erotic blown kisses, taut tushes, and sizzling bedroom eyes make teens squirm if they’re watching with their parents?

VS Show 2012

I don’t have the answers, as my kids are all too young to watch. I do know that Coco Rocha has a policy of no lingerie, not even swimwear or revealing couture, and she has 425,000 Twitter followers, so she must be considered pretty cool.

I also know that decisions are swayed by cultural norms. At age 22, I headed to Germany—where hanging out naked in the park was no big deal to the locals—and within a month I found myself in front of a camera in a bra and panties. Here’s an excerpt from my book about that shoot:

I’d never done a lingerie booking before and wondered if there would be an audience of male photographer’s assistants present, or worse, boxing brief-clad models—maybe even guys I’d face later at the gym, who’d smirk knowingly at my padded sports bra.

Bettina Putzkammer’s studio, in the basement of the photographer’s home on the outskirts of town, turned out to be testosterone-free, but I still managed to humiliate myself. I didn’t know that the robes and slippers offered to lingerie models are not to make them feel cozy, like guests lounging at the Four Seasons; rather, they provide coverage so the model can remove all of her undergarments to ensure there are no lines on her skin when the shoot begins. I put the robe on over my bra and underwear and neglected to take off my socks. So I felt doubly stupid when I was reprimanded for the lines my socks had left on my calves and for the tan lines from my bikini top.

“Oh, you Americans,” said Bettina, referring to our resolve to keep our boobs modestly under wraps, unlike all those swinging free among the sunbathers at the Englischer Garten. Gawking at bare bodies in the park was a highlight for the American guys who came to visit their model friends in Munich. In the Schönfeld meadow, men and women, of all ages and sizes, tanned and frolicked in the buff.

Other than the novice upkeep of my skin, which for 250 DM (about $150) an hour ought to be seamless, my initiation into panty posing went smoothly. This type of job was considered racy in Denver but it was no big deal in Munich. Maggie didn’t even ask whether I “did lingerie” or not. Anyone who had the right body (not too skinny, not too flabby, and a 34B/C, pre-Victoria’s-Secret-Extreme-Cleavage era) did, even though these skin-revealing shoots didn’t pay double-time as they had in Denver. The significant decrease in the likelihood of family and friends seeing the pictures of me in my skivvies made up for the lower rate, not that I would complain about $500 for a morning’s work. If I never got another booking, I had airfare home.

I don’t regret deciding to model lingerie. These days, teenage girls go to prom wearing less (have you seen band-aid dresses?!).

Herve Leger Band-Aid Dress

Alessandra Ambrosio and Her 40-lb. Wings

I’m trying to think how I would feel if one of my daughters were up there, baring most of her bottom for all the world to see (200 countries watch). If she were the VS neophyte who also is attending Columbia right now, studying political science and economics, I might say, “Hot damn, girl, you’ve got it all!” (Way to defy model stereotypes, Camryn—not sure on sp. or why she isn’t getting more press!) Scroll down to my previous blog on the Angels, and you’ll see that strutting the VS runway does give a person the clout it takes to do a lot of good in the world. So that’s something.

More thumbs up for the ballerinas performing this year—can’t hurt to add a little culture to the event. Also, VS toned down the cleavage close-ups and the models mostly abstained from the stripper moves that I wrote about in my first VS Fashion Show blog. And, bravo, a few modest-sized cups in the mix! For the record, Miranda’s cups runneth over more than usual these days because she’s still nursing. (Yes, that body has housed a baby; a lot of those bombshells have kids, believe it or not.)

A big thumbs down for more sickly skinny girls (which partly explains the diminished breasts, but at least there weren’t as many fake ones plunked onto Lolita bodies). A full set of ribs protruding between bra and panties does not say sexy to me.

Alessandra strutting regally despite the 40-pound (!!) set of wings on her back and stilettos on her feet—now that’s sexy, and amazing!

If you missed the show, no worries. You can watch it on December 14, 9/8C, on CW.

The pageant has a talent factor (ballet, violin, opera singing…)

VS has a Hooters factor (the jiggling and wiggling of abundant cleavage and toned rears). Which event draws more fans? The panty parade of course.

The iconic beauty pageant is fizzling, while VS is sizzling. This seems discouraging for the next generation of young women in this country. But a closer look at these models—beyond titillating tight shots and giddy backstage footage—uncovers a new meaning of secret angels.

The lingerie queens can’t pause mid-pivot to deliver a speech on how they plan to help people or save the planet, but many of them already are. It takes experience on the VS runway and a perfect-10 physique for a model to “earn her wings” (not to mention strength training and remarkable balance in 6-inch heels, as the extravagant bejeweled accessories can weigh up to 50 pounds). But so many of the sultry Angels work as another sort of angel in their down time that it appears the undergarment giant is factoring in role modeling as well when granting wings.

Read my article, Victoria’s Angels: More Than the Sum of Their Angelic Parts, on lemondrop.com…

Tonight, millions of viewers will tune into the most popular lingerie extravaganza of the year: the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Last year, 8.3 million people watched the Angels strut their stuff in barely-there underwear — twice the number that saw Miss America crowned.While the Victoria’s Secret show may seem full-cupped and empty-headed, a closer look at these models might show you that there’s more to them than (admittedly, pleasantly) meets the eye.

See, for example: gorgeous Brazilian Adriana Lima, who grew up playing with orphans in her poverty-stricken hometown. From early on in her career (she moved to New York to model at 15), Lima donated money and bought clothes for needy kids every time she went home to visit. In an interview at age 19, she noted the self-centered nature of the fashion world and said, “When I help someone, I lose .01 percent of my ego.”Despite frequently being ranked one of the sexiest women on Earth, in 2006 Lima told GQ that she planned to remain a virgin until married. (She and Serbian basketball player Marko Jaric wed in 2009 and had a baby — over nine months later.)Alessandra Ambrosio, another Brazilian and veteran Angel, is an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and supports several organizations in her homeland. Ambrosio also threw an Open Your Heart benefit with fellow strutter Coco Rocha during New York Fashion Week last February and raised $20,000 for children in Haiti.
Chanel Iman works with the HerShe Group, which helps girls in foster care. “I’m just grateful to be given the opportunity to do more than model, to be a voice as well,” she says, “and to help teens who didn’t get the chance in life that I did.” Iman also supports St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Arise Christian Center. She will turn 20 the day after her second Victoria’s Secret show, and her wish for wings will come true.

Miranda Kerr, who is sitting out this year’s show due to pregnancy, is so eager to set an example for teens that she put her advice into a book called “Treasure Yourself.” The spiritual supermodel from Australia is an advocate for Wildlife Warriors and Children International.
Dutch beauty Doutzen Kroes is expecting as well. She married D.J. Sunnery James, the father-to-be, on Nov. 9. The happy couple requested that guests make donations to dance4life or the World Wildlife Foundation in lieu of wedding gifts.On Doutzen’s Facebook page, she writes, “Over 7,400 people have joined the dance4life campaign. That is the same amount as people getting infected with HIV each day worldwide! Please join dance4lifeand share this message with your friends to make even more people aware of HIV. Together we can do something about it!” As of this minute, 71,382 people “like” her page. That’s called supermodel pull.Marisa Miller, the famously voluptuous blonde who got her wings in 2007, will hang them up this year. She’s too busy following her passions, which include supporting the military. Miller, whose grandfather is a veteran, is the 1940s pin-up gal in a campaign for Harley Davidson’s Military Appreciation Month. She has also turned down numerous TV offers, instead choosing to do a reality TV show about the military and their families.

The grounded supermodel, who has graced troops with her presence during USO tours, says, “They get so excited for a signed photo. I thought, I can do better than that.”

Miller also is an ambassador for the American Cancer Society, helps raise awareness of breast cancer in women under 40 through the Young Survival Coalition, and recently participated in a telethon for autism. To round out her charitable causes, the California girl and avid surfer supports the Surfrider Foundation in its mission to protect the world’s oceans, waves and beaches.

Head Angel Heidi Klum, who is calling it quits at 37 after 13 years of walking for Victoria’s Secret, is likely the most visible model of the bunch. People know her as the girl Page Six nicknamed “The Body” and as the stern host of “Project Runway,” but they may not know about her altruistic bent. Klum donates the dresses she wears on various red carpets to charity. She supports UNICEF, IMCG (which raises skin-cancer awareness), and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

When 19-year-old newcomer ErinHeatherton expressed how excited she was to be chosen for the show in ’08, she said, “I grew up watching Victoria’s Secret.” That sounds like what her mom’s generation would say about Miss America. If the next generation is made aware of all the good being done when these lingerie goddesses put their

clothes on, maybe a little skin isn’t such a bad thing.

Jill Johnson is a former model working on a memoir. She provides insight and advice on her site: Modeling Mentor.

[All Images: Getty]

Call me a prude (it won’t be the first time), but has the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show crossed the line from sexy to sleazy? When the moves got fancy on the runways I walked, they involved diors and pivots and the unbuttoning and removing of jackets, not suggestive shaking of derrières and cleavage and removing of…well, the VS models enter wearing next to nothing, so there really isn’t much left to remove.

Touted as “the greatest fashion event on earth,” Victoria’s Secret annual televised runway extravaganza is for many non-fashionistas the only “fashion” show they’ll watch all year. (Those italics indicate that the show is more one of flesh than of fashion.) So, that means some 8 million-plus viewers are getting the wrong idea about what modeling is like—as they almost always do from every TV show, magazine article, or book out there on the subject. It’s enough to make us regular models throw up our arms (some bony, some not) in despair, turn off the TV for two years, and write a book about what modeling is really like. Oh yeah, one of us—me—did that. Make sure you sign up (home page, lower right corner) to get an e-mail as soon as copies are available!

I digress. My point is that most models don’t prance down runways in lingerie, and, even if they do, the audience rarely gets a sense they’ve seen the models’ moves before in, say, Hooters or maybe at that bachelor party in Vegas. While I marveled at the VS Angels’ mastery of such confident struts in their teeny-tiny outfits and teetering shoes down such a long runway in front of such a huge audience, I simultaneously found myself cringing when the camera zoomed in on a model’s breasts and she obligingly leaned forward and gave a little crowd-pleasing jiggle. Yikes, is this what it has come to? I swear Klum and co. weren’t doing that move at the premier show in 1995.

Back then, I would have walked that runway and had my parents watch. In 2010, I couldn’t help but wonder if the models’ relatives—mom, dad, gramma—were proud or appalled by what they saw. Same for the folks watching their aspiring-model daughters vying, with such gusto, to win a walk down that runway (in a new Victoria’s Secret contest that added that requisite reality TV twist to the show). Were they cheering them on or hoping they’d get off that slippery slope and hightail it back home to their SAT review books?

Not only have the moves changed since ’95, but the things these models are shaking around have too. I’m sure the real-to-fake boob ratio would have been more in my favor fifteen years ago. Now? The laws of gravity don’t seem to apply to Angels, nor do the laws of proportion. A wise model friend of mine once reassured me about my less-than-voluminous Bs. She said some men prefer curvy women; others like waif types. Victoria’s Secret has trademarked a new option: the curvy waif. In VS land, they are everywhere! Mother Nature isn’t nearly as cruel; she rarely spits out one of those impossibly lithe yet voluptuous creatures.

Does this mean I won’t watch the show next year? Nah, I’ll watch. The show has some titillating elements: great music, over-the-top costumes, glitz, glamour, stupendously gorgeous models, suspense (who might trip? can their legs get any longer?), eroticism, voyeurism… But just remember, Angels, as you’re wiggling and jiggling, we are watching—8 million-plus of us, maybe gramma, hopefully not my husband…