Ultimately, the Victoria's Secret Show was just that: a show divorced from reality. It gives rise to the fantasy of who you wish to be and the type of woman you, as a man, could prospectively come home to (and it's not Tyra, Naomi, Heidi or Karolina). It is designed to inspire envy while at the same time serve as a tool of aspiration for the have-nots of our world. It's brand merchand­ising at its finest.

This show, which aired on CBS on December 6, celebrated several mile­stones: It marked the final Victoria's Secret fashion show appear­ance for Tyra Banks, the first post-pregnancy runway appearance for Heidi Klum, and also introduced the next generation of Victoria's Secret Angels, including new modelling sensations Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, and Karolina Kurkova, a Victoria Secret fashion show veteran, who recently also signed on as an Angel, joining an élite group of hand-chosen models.

The show opened with Gisèle Bünd­chen wearing a be­jewelled Sexy Splendor Fantasy bra, teeny-tiny red Santa skirt with feather trim, above-the-knee red boots and a huge grin that ties rather neatly into the holiday theme of the show. The entire Armory was full of glitter and lights, huge Christmas orna­ments, and teddy bears letting us all know that the holidays are here, and personally, I was myself excited because I have been a good girl all year long.

As Ed Razek, chief marketing officer of Victoria's Secret succinctly states to the press: ‘We're not selling anything anyone needs, so it has to be something someone wants. It's all about creating desire, creating new “wants” on a continuing basis.’

As always, without the huge wings and the other fashion show props, more than a few of the pieces of lingerie shown were quite pretty and certainly wearable by the masses, including a hand-beaded lace princess gown with sequin and crystal "snowflake" trim, a light blue strapless bra with organza ruffles and matching panties and Gisèle in a pale nude bra and panty set with em­broidered lilac flowers as an accent. Really, take away the props and you are truly left with pieces that will serve to inspire women to be embrace their inner sex goddess without sacrificing their self-esteem—and that is always a very good thing.

Grammy Award-winning singer, Seal, later took the stage and sang as his wife, new mother, Heidi Klüm, walked the runway in a light-up bra and thong with Swarovski beading. They sweetly blew each other a kiss in one of the show's most endearing moments.

Moments later, Ricky Martin also performed, apparently still caught up in that ‘Living La Vita Loca’ moment that cata­pulted him to fame and fortune in the late 1990s.

This marks the 10th Victoria's Secret runway extravaganza and the gift bag full of goodies were equally as extra­vagant and well worth the battle to get cover this event. This year, it included a bottle of So in Love, a new parfum from the holiday collection, a mood candle in sugar musk from the holiday 2005 home fragrance collection, Frédéric Fekkai shampoo and condition­er, Pout's Plumps Me underwear and matching eye mask, and a $150 gift card from Cornelia Resort Spa.

P.S.: Vicki, where can I find that Mrs Santa suit, and the Toy Soldier dress with the white-feathered train? My husband has been a good boy too! •

Yvette Coleman is a senior correspondent for Lucire.